Table 1 The clinical characteristics of all participants.

n

62

62

87

73

68

Sex (M/F)

32/30

45/17

48/39

45/28

40/28

Age (years)

54.23 ± 1.74

57.87 ± 1.57

51.40 ± 1.65*^#

68.70 ± 1.15*

67.13 ± 0.98

BMI

23.10 ± 0.80

23.03 ± 0.78

22.08 ± 0.46

20.96 ± 0.50

21.61 ± 0.45

Never/current/ex-smokers

0/0/0

0/62/0

59/9/19

20/28/25

11/34/23

Smoking pack-years

0 ± 0^&

29.39 ± 2.05*

7.47 ± 1.65^&#

46.86 ± 0.50^&*^#

26.59 ± 2.73*

Family asthma history (Y/N)

5/57

3/68

26/61

4/69

19/49

Allergic rhinitis (Y/N)

5/57

4/48

26/61

6/67

17/51

ICS use (Y/N)

0/62

0/62

0/87

44/29

43/25

Short-acting β agonist (Y/N)

0/62

0/62

0/87

28/45

29/39

Long-acting β2 agonist (Y/N)

0/62

0/62

0/87

42/31

39/29

FEV1 (L)

3.24 ± 0.13

3.09 ± 0.11

2.16 ± 0.11*^#&

1.18 ± 0.41*^#

1.34 ± 0.039*^#

FEV1 pred (%)

99.72 ± 2.01

92.69 ± 1.90

74.28 ± 2.99*^#&

36.74 ± 2.08*^#

41.08 ± 2.00*^#

FEV1/FVC (%)

90.18 ± 0.97

86.78 ± 0.98

78.08 ± 1.54*^#&

50.10 ± 2.06*^#&

57.68 ± 1.73*^#

∆FEV1 (%)

3.34 ± 0.47

2.86 ± 0.62

15.37 ± 0.56*^#

6.62 ± 0.47*^#&

15.97 ± 0.86*^#

Daily score

5.96 ± 0.36^&

7.70 ± 0.32

Nighttime score

1.03 ± 0.14^&

1.60 ± 0.16

MRC dyspnea scale

3.19 ± 0.19

2.87 ± 0.18

TCC (10⁶/ml)

3.76 ± 0.20

4.14 ± 0.21

4.25 ± 0.18^&

7.79 ± 0.41*^#

7.21 ± 0.37*^#

Macrophages (%)

68.19 ± 2.10

52.32 ± 2.13

46.98 ± 2.38*^&

28.18 ± 1.51*^#

22.57 ± 1.60*^#

Neutrophils (%)

37.90 ± 2.03

43.94 ± 2.04

41.32 ± 2.39^&

68.06 ± 1.51*^#

64.97 ± 1.50*^#

Lymphocytes (%)

2.87 ± 0.50

2.79 ± 0.50

4.53 ± 0.61*^#&

2.86 ± 0.37*^#

2.84 ± 0.37*^#

Eosinophils (%)

1.10 ± 0.25

0.97 ± 0.21

7.18 ± 0.94*^#&

0.89 ± 0.11^&

8.91 ± 0.53*^#