| Airway markers | Baseline | Year 1 | Ri & p value | |
| Neutrophil %† | 80.5 (66.0–90.6) | 80.8 (64.7–89.4) | 0.3 | 0.06 |
| Macrophage % | 9.9 (7.1 to 13.6) | 10.8 (7.58 to 15.3) | 0.4 | 0.01 |
| Eosinophil % | 2.7 (1.7 to 4.5) | 2.4 (1.5 to 3.8) | 0.05 | 0.4 |
| Sputum IL-8† | 790.8 (384.6–1613.3) | 782.7 (301.3–1248.3) | 0.4 | 0.002 |
| Systemic markers | ||||
| Plasma CRP | 3.3 (2.5 to 4.4) | 2.9 (2.3 to 3.6) | 0.3 | 0.02 |
| Plasma TNF-α | 1.8 (1.6 to 2.0) | 1.6 (1.4 to 1.9) | 0.4 | 0.001 |
| Serum IL-6 | 3.2 (2.5 to 4.1) | 3.1 (2.6 to 3.7) | 0.4 | 0.05 |
Data presented as geometric mean (95% CI) or †median (range).