Table 1 Baseline characteristics

Age, years

57 (47 to 64)

60 (48 to 72)

56 (48 to 65)

0.843

Female sex, no. (%)

69 (55.6)

25 (56.8)

44 (55.0)

0.845

Smoking status:

Never smoker

Ex-smoker

Current smoker

69 (55.6)

47 (37.9)

8 (6.5)

30 (68.2)

12 (27.3)

2 (4.5)

39 (48.8)

35 (43.8)

6 (7.5)

0.114

Atopy, no. (%)

55 (44.4)

6 (13.6)

49 (61.3)

< 0.001

Weight, kg

84.6 (73.0 to 99.5)

75.3 (65.7 to 84.9)

92.3 (76.8 to 107.8)

< 0.001

BMI, kg/m²

31.0 (26.5 to 36.4)

25.7 (21.9 to 29.6)

33.6 (28.8 to 38.5)

< 0.001

SABA

122 (98.4)

42 (95.5)

80 (100.0)

0.124

LABA/ICS

101 (81.5)

21 (47.7)

80 (100.0)

< 0.001

Maintenance prednisolone, no. (%)

28 (22.6)

n/a

28 (35.0)

n/a

Biologic, no. (%)

13 (10.5)

n/a

13 (16.3)

n/a

Prednisolone boosts

2 (0 to 4)

0 (0 to 0)

4 (3 to 6)

< 0.001

ACQ6

1.7 (0.5 to 3.0)

0.4 (0.0 to 0.8)

2.7 (1.9 to 3.6)

< 0.001

AQLQ overall

4.6 (3.8 to 6.2)

6.4 (5.9 to 6.9)

4.0 (3.3 to 4.8)

< 0.001

FeNO, ppb

23 (16 to 45)

21 (16 to 26)

33 (12 to 54)

0.023

Eosinophils, x10⁹/L

0.2 (0.1 to 0.4)

0.1 (0.0 to 0.2)

0.3 (0.2 to 0.5)

0.017