Table 1 Subject’s characteristics (N = 484; 199 males (41.1%, 285 females (58.9%), age-range (9.1–87.1 years
Asthmatic patients n = 337 | Non-asthmatic subjects n = 147 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upper airway Cough syndrome (UACS) | Gastrooesophageal reflux disease (GERD) | Chronic Cough (smoking, post-infection, unknown) | Symptom complex (dyspnea, chest tightness, hyperventilation, somatisation) | All non-asthmatic subjects | ||
n (% distribution) | 337 (69.6) | 55 (37.4) | 40 (27.2) | 30 (20.4) | 22 (15.0) | 147 (30.4) |
Gender male/female (% distribution) | 129/208 (38.3/61.7) | 26/29 (47.3/52.7) | 18/22 (45.0/55.0) | 18/12 (60.0/40.0) | 8/14 (36.4/63.6) | 70/77 (47.6/52.4) |
Age in years (mean ± SD) (age-range) | 41.3 ± 18.9 (9.1-87.1) | 47.0 ± 17.0 (10.6-80.5) | 55.0 ± 15.3 (26.3-83.1) | 55.2 ± 17.3 (15.9-82.8) | 40.4 ± 18.4 (13.9-72.9) | 49.9 ± 17.5 (10.6-82.8) |
Functional Characteristics of plethysmographic measurements assessed by z-scores n (% within group) | ||||||
Normal LF | 280 (83.1) | 42 (76.4) | 31 (77.5) | 26 (86.7) | 19 (86.4) | 118 (80.3) |
Pulmonary hyperinflation (PHI) | 28 (8.3) | 12 (21.8) | 7 (17.5) | 2 (6.7) | 3 (13.6) | 24 (16.3) |
Bronchial obstruction (O) | 26 (7.7) | 1 (1.8) | 2 (5.0) | 0 | 0 | 3 (2.0) |
PHI and O | 3 (0.9) | 0 | 0 | 2 (6.7) | 0 | 2 (1.4) |
Functional Characteristics of spirometric measurements assessed by z-scores by plethysmography n (%) | ||||||
Normal F-V curve | 305 (90.5) | 50 (36.9) | 40 (100) | 29 (96.7) | 19 (86.4) | 138 (93.9) |
Flow limitation (FL) | 26 (7.7) | 5 (9.1) | 0 | 1 (3.3) | 3 (13.6) | 9 (6.1) |
SAD | 1 (0.3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0) |
FL & SAD | 5 (1.53) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |