Smoking induces sex-specific changes in the small airway proteome

Respiratory Research

Table 1 General characteristics and clinical data of the subjects included in the study

	Never smokers		Former smokers		Current smokers		p-value
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
Group size (N)	13	9	25	22	17	21	NA	NA
Age (years)	51	56	60	63	62	62	0.020	0.074
BMI (kg/m²)	24.5	25.0	25.9	26.3	26.3	26.0	0.505	0.225
Pack-years	0	0	23	22	38	39	0.044^c	0.004^c
Years since cessation of smoking	NA	NA	11	19*	NA	NA	NA	NA
GOLD (I/II)	0	0	7/2	5/3	2/0	1/6	NA	NA
FVC % pred^a	96.7	104.2	97.0	93.9	91.3	96.6	0.383	0.221
FEV1% pred^a	95.1	96.6	91.7	87.2	91.5	87.0	0.064	0.032
FEV1/FVC^a (%)	79.3	77.7	73.9	73.3	77.9	72.4*	0.022	0.055
MMEF/FVC^a (%)	76.0	71.9	47.1	51.9	70.4	52.1*	0.009	0.063
hsCRP (mg/L)	0.7	1.0	0.9	1.0	1.4	1.4	0.155	0.754
Neutrophils (1.8–7.5 × 10*9/L)	3.7	3.3	3.3	3.2	4.2	4.8	0.098	0.005
Lymphocytes (0.8–4.5 × 10*9/L)	1.9	1.5	1.8	1.6	2.2	2.2	0.074	0.011
Monocytes (0.1–1.0 × 10*9/L)	0.40	0.30	0.40	0.40	0.40	0.50*	0.707	0.019
Eosinophils (0.04–0.4 × 10*9/L)	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.20	0.20	0.496	0.136
Number of PEx per breath (kN/breath)	86.8	111.6	58.1	56.2	90.7	63	0.035	0.192

Median values are presented. p-values are based on a non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test comparing smoking categories and stratifying for sex
NA not applicable, PEx exhaled particles, kN/breath thousand number of exhaled particles per breath
^aPost-bronchodilation
^cp-value based on Mann–Whitney test between former and current smokers
*Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between females and males based on Mann–Whitney test

ISSN: 1465-993X