Low folliculin group High folliculin group P value
(n = 210) (n = 194)
Log [folliculin level] (pg/mL)* 4.4 ± 0.3 5.2 ± 0.4 < 0.001
Age (mean ± SD, years) 48.8 ± 14.2 (n = 206) 53.1 ± 14.7 (n = 188) 0.003
Sex (n, % male) 42.72 (n = 88) 46.81 (n = 88) 0.475
BMI (kg/m2) 23.7 ± 3.3 (n = 202) 23.8 ± 3.0 (n = 187) 0.688
Age of diagnosis (year) 43.8 ± 15.7 (n = 196) 46.1 ± 17.5 (n = 177) 0.091
Age of symptom onset (year) 38.6 ± 16.3 (n = 202) 42.7 ± 17.6 (n = 185) 0.018
Smoking (pack-years) 7.2 ± 13.3 (n = 197) 10.6 ± 18.0 (n = 182) 0.043
Smoker a) (%) 45.7 (n = 90) 49.5 (n = 90) 0.528
Smoking status (%) 0.615
Never-smoker
54.3 (n = 107)
50.6 (n = 92)
Ex-smoker
31.5 (n = 62)
36.3 (n = 66)
Current smoker
14.2 (n = 28)
13.2 (n = 24)
Skin prick test (% positive, n/total) 42.4 (n = 64) 34.5 (n = 39) 0.242
Acute exacerbation, past 1 year (yes, %) 17.5 (n = 36) 13.8 (n = 26) 0.393
Acute exacerbation (/1 year) 3.3 ± 5.0 (n = 53) 4.4 ± 8.3 (n = 70) 0.349
Pre-BD FEV1(%) 73.5 ± 19.8 (n = 201) 69.1 ± 22.8 (n = 183) 0.045
Pre-BD FVC (%) 88.5 ± 18.6 (n = 201) 84.3 ± 18.4 (n = 183) 0.026
Pre-BD FEV1/FVC 0.69 ± 0.13 (n = 202) 0.67 ± 0.16 (n = 184) 0.098
Post-BD FEV1 predicted (%) 76.3 ± 21.4 (n = 98) 70.0 ± 22.0 (n = 117) 0.034
Post-BD FVC predicted (%) 89.4 ± 18.2 (n = 98) 83.6 ± 17.4 (n = 117) 0.018
Post-BD FEV1/FVC predicted 0.69 ± 0.13 (n = 98) 0.67 ± 0.19 (n = 117) 0.507
PC20 4.5 ± 5.0 (n = 89) 5.6 ± 6.3 (n = 59) 0.260
Blood eosinophils (%) 5.6 ± 5.6 (n = 177) 4.7 ± 4.8 (n = 148) 0.131
Blood eosinophil count (cells) 396.6 ± 445.0 (n = 177) 336.2 ± 334.9 (n = 148) 0.164
Neutrophils (%), sputum 44.7 ± 37.7 (n = 24) 39.0 ± 34.5 (n = 29) 0.557
Eosinophils (%), sputum 18.9 ± 27.0 (n = 24) 14.4 ± 24.3 (n = 29) 0.495
CRP (mg/dL) 0.6 ± 1.4 (n = 111) 0.6 ± 1.6 (n = 104) 0.902
Serum total IgE (IU/mL) 362.5 ± 490.6 (n = 60) 589.5 ± 1034.1 (n = 53) 0.161