| Inflammatory patterns | p Value* | ||||||
| Non-eosinophilic pattern (n = 214) | Eosinophilic pattern (n = 167) | ||||||
| EOSlo/NEUlo (n = 166) | EOSlo/NEUhi (n = 48) | p Value | EOShi/NEUlo (n = 132) | EOShi/NEUhi (n = 35) | p Value | ||
| Sex, women, % | 46.4 | 47.9 | 0.9 | 49.2 | 68.6 | 0.04 | 0.2 |
| Age, year, mean (SD) | 37.9 (11.9) | 34.6 (12.3) | 0.09 | 34.4 (14.0) | 39.9 (15.4) | 0.04 | 0.2 |
| Age at onset of asthma, year, mean (SD) | 18.0 (14.4) | 18.1 (15.1) | 1.0 | 17.9 (14.8) | 18.5 (16.2) | 0.8 | 1.0 |
| Smoking habit, % | |||||||
| Smokers | 19.3 | 45.8 | 17.2 | 17.1 | |||
| Ex-smokers | 29.5 | 14.6 | 0.0007 | 25.8 | 34.3 | 0.6 | 0.16 |
| Non-smokers | 51.2 | 39.6 | 57.0 | 48.6 | |||
| IgE, IU/ml, GM | 129 | 104 | 0.4 | 245 | 234 | 0.8 | <0.0001 |
| Positive skin prick test response, % | 76.1 | 61.7 | 0.05 | 80.2 | 69.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| FEV1 % predicted, mean (SD) | 96.4 (18.5) | 95.2 (22.1) | 0.7 | 91.1 (20.2) | 85.8 (19.3) | 0.17 | 0.003 |
| FEV1 <80% predicted, % | 16.9 | 17.0 | 1.0 | 27.3 | 26.5 | 0.9 | 0.02 |
| BHR, n | 88 | 28 | 54 | 15 | |||
| PD20⩽4 mg, % | 63.6 | 67.9 | 0.7 | 94.4 | 86.7 | 0.3 | <0.0001 |
| Respiratory infections (last 3 weeks), % | 13.9 | 25.0 | 0.07 | 11.4 | 17.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Treatment in the last 12 months, % | |||||||
| None | 34.9 | 35.4 | 19.7 | 8.6 | |||
| Without inhaled steroids | 17.5 | 16.7 | 1.0 | 25.8 | 20.0 | 0.16 | 0.005 |
| With inhaled steroids | 47.6 | 47.9 | 54.5 | 71.4 | |||
*Non-eosinophilic vs eosinophilic (crude p value).
BHR, bronchial hyper-responsiveness; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; EOS, eosinophils; FEV1, forced expiratory volume in 1 s; GM, geometric mean; IgE, immunoglobulin E; NEU, neutrophils; PD20, dose of methacholine causing a 20% drop in FEV1.