Table 1

Clinical characteristics of patients with an asthma exacerbation, patients with stable asthma and non-atopic non-smoker controls

Subject no	Sex	Age(years)	FEV₁(% pred)	FEV₁/FVC(%)	Medication
Subject no	Sex	Age(years)	FEV₁(% pred)	FEV₁/FVC(%)	Home inhaled GC** dose(µg/day)	Home oral GC dose(mg/day)
E-asthma, patients with asthma with an acute severe exacerbation; S-asthma, patients with stable asthma; NSC, non-smoking surgical controls; GC, glucocorticoid.
Time line for FEV₁ measurements: E-asthma, after liberation from the mechanical ventilator and before discharge from hospital; S-asthma and NSC controls, before bronchoscopy.
*p<0.0001 vs NSC.
†p<0.0001 vs S-asthma.
‡None before 3 months of the start of the study.
§PC₂₀ value 0.02326.
¶PC₂₀ value 0.04073.
**Triamcinolone acetonide.
E-asthma (n = 15)
1	F	50	28	32	0	10
2	F	50	28	32	1600	0
3	M	51	27	33	1600	20
4	M	24	18	21	0	10
5	F	42	40	48	1600	20
6	F	62	59	70	600	0
7	F	53	32	35	1600	0
8	F	47	38	54	1600	0
9	F	50	49	32	1600	30
10	M	39	31	37	1600	20
11	F	52	41	38	800	0
12	F	74	60	47	1600	0
13	F	64	56	42	1600	20
14	M	47	41	39	1600	30
15	F	56	52	45	0	0
Mean		50.7†	40*†	40.3*†
SE		2.9	3.3	3.0

S-asthma (n = 15)
16	F	39	93	73	0‡	0‡
17	M	25	76§	85	0‡	0‡
18	M	40	92	81	0‡	0‡
19	M	25	95	72	0‡	0‡
20	F	24	89	78	0‡	0‡
21	F	25	84	97	0‡	0‡
22	F	26	97	76	0‡	0‡
23	F	25	97	91	0‡	0‡
24	F	26	88	82	0‡	0‡
25	F	20	80	82	0‡	0‡
26	M	27	72¶	81	0‡	0‡
27	F	38	97	80	0‡	0‡
28	F	23	85	91	0‡	0‡
29	F	22	86	87	0‡	0‡
30	F	39	82	70	0‡	0‡
Mean		28*	87*	82
SE		1.8	7.8	7.6

NSC (n = 15)
31	F	42	112	81	0	0
32	M	45	95	78	0	0
33	F	62	94	76	0	0
34	F	41	98	79	0	0
35	F	52	89	82	0	0
36	F	42	90	79	0	0
37	F	44	106	81	0	0
38	F	52	89	82	0	0
39	F	41	97	81	0	0
40	F	37	103	78	0	0
41	M	42	108	80	0	0
42	F	53	90	79	0	0
43	F	57	102	84	0	0
44	F	42	93	79	0	0
45	F	48	103	84	0	0
Mean		47	98	80
SE		1.5	1.6	0.8