Neutrophil elastase as a biomarker for bacterial infection in COPD

Respiratory Research

Table 1 Clinical characteristics at stable baseline state

Subjects, n	30
Male, n (%)	18 (60)
Age (Year) ¥	65 (45–81)
Smokers, n (%)	14 (47)
Pack year history ¥	50 (10–156)
On ICS treatment (%)	20 (90)
Co-morbidity – Cardiovascular (%) *	9 (31)
Co-morbidity – Diabetes (%)*	3 (10)
Co-morbidity – Endocrine (%)*	0 (0)
Co-morbidity – Depression (%)*	6 (21)
Co-morbidity – Osteopenia/porosis (%)*	6 (21)
Co-morbidity – Anaemia (%)*	0 (0)
GOLD 2, n (%)	9 (30)
GOLD 3, n (%)	16 (53)
GOLD 4, n (%)	5 (17)
Post-bronchodilator FEV₁ (L)	1.25 (0.52)
Post-bronchodilator FEV₁% predicted	47 (18)
FEV/FVC ratio, %	47 (12)
Chronic respiratory disease questionnaire, units	4.11 (0.99)
Total visual analogue scale, mm	156 (77)
Proportion taking inhaled corticosteroids, n (%)	27 (90)
Sputum total cell count, ×10⁶/g	3.50 (2.11 to 5.82)
% neutrophil sputum count	77 (20)
Total sputum neutrophil count, ×10⁶/g	2.80 (1.58 to 4.96)
Proportion with positive microbiology culture, n (%)	9 (30)
Colony forming units, ×10⁷	1.09 (0.34 to 3.48)

GOLD - Global Initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease individuals grouped (1–4) by severity of disease; FEV₁ – Forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC - Forced vital capacity; Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire, scores range between 1 to 7 with higher score representing better health quality; Visual Analogue Scale, performed on 100 mm line from ‘no symptoms’ to ‘worst symptoms’, higher scores represent worse symptoms (total score addition of measured domains: cough, dyspnoea, sputum production and sputum purulence). Unless indicated all tables are mean and standard deviation in brackets. ¶ - Geometric mean and 95% Confidence Intervals. ¥- Mean (range). € Median (IQR). Three patients had no sample available for microbiology culture.* One patient missing co-morbidity data

ISSN: 1465-993X