Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of the three study-groups, including result from statistical tests

Number

10

10

10

Gender (male/female)

7/3

4/6

3/7

ns

ns

ns

Age

48.9 (4.43) [28–66]

38.1 (4.1) [20–59]

54.6 (3.23) [38–68]

ns

0.0040

ns

Age at onset of asthma, yrs

–

17.4 (5.16) [5–55]

24.3 (7.38) [2.0–60]

–

ns

–

BMI

23.89 (0.77) [19.26–27.16]

24.24 (0.8) [21.15–28.34]

25.93 (0.97) [21.47–31.18]

ns

ns

ns

Allergy y/n

3/7

7/3

6/4

ns

ns

ns

Ex smoker y/n

3/7

4/6

7/3

ns

ns

ns

FEV1 (% pred)

100.9 (2.9) [88–117]

93.6 (4.63) [79–123]

71.2 (5.31) [39–91]

0.0003

0.0051

ns

FEV1/FVC (%)

75.13 (7.67) [7.77–93.8]

79.2 (2.11) [71–88]

62.69 (3.73) [35–71]

0.0024

0.0001

ns

Reversibility (%)

2.4 (1.66) [− 5–9]

7.5 (2.31) [1–21]

14.7 (2.68) [6–28]

0.0006

0.0137

ns

LCI z-score

0.89 (0.12) [0.5–1.7]

1.04 (0.17) [0–1.8]

5.07 (0.53) [2.9–8.1]

0.0001

0.0001

ns

S-Cond VT, z-score

− 0.57 (0.42) [− 3–1.7]

− 0.13 (0.4) [− 1.5–1.4]

3.77 (0.49) [0.7–5.8]

0.0002

0.0005

ns

S-Acin VT, z-score

0.59 (0.18) [0–1.5]

0.48 (0.21) [0–1.8]

2.76 (0.81) [0–8.6]

0.0077

0.0065

ns

GINA step

–

2.2 (0.29) [1–4]

2.9 (0.41) [1–4]

–

ns

–

ACQ, mean (1–6)

–

0.82 (0.3) [0–3.17]

1.13 (0.24) [0–2.17]

–

ns

–

B-neutrophils (%)

3.01 (0.33) [1.5–4.4]

3.68 (0.35) [2.2–5.4]

4.53 (0.52) [2.5–7.3]

0.0493

ns

ns

B-eosinophils(%)

0.15 (0.04) [0.06–0.5]

0.27 (0.04) [0.1–0.6]

0.3 (0.07) [0.1–0.6]

0.0287

ns

0.0156

FENO, ppb

17.7 (1.93) [8–24]

41.2 (8.72) [6–86]

41.7 (11.74) [11–113]

ns

ns

ns

hsCRP

0.51 (0.08) [0.23–1.1]

(n = 9)

0.432 (0.107) [0.14–1.2]

2.35 (0.62) [0.45–5.40]

0.0054

0.0031

ns

Average mass pg/particle

0.23 (0.01) [0.2–0.27]

0.22 (0.01) [0.18–0.3]

0.22 (0.01) [0.17–0.29]

ns

ns

ns