Baseline participant clinical and demographic characteristics
| Number of patients | 43 |
| Current/former smokers | 23/20 |
| Number of exacerbations | 38 |
| Males/females | 36/7 |
| Number of exacerbations in the past 12 months) | |
| 0 | 19 |
| 1 | 17 |
| ≥2 | 7 |
| Age (years) | 64.5 (59.4–70.8) |
| Smoking history (pack-years) | 38.0 (25.5–53.0) |
| Body mass index (kg·m−2) | 25.9 (23.6–28.0) |
| Daily dose of ICS (µg)# | 800 (500–1000) |
| Pre-study treatment regimen | |
| ICS¶ | 8 |
| ICS+LABA¶ | 30 |
| ICS+LAMA¶ | 2 |
| ICS+LAMA+LABA¶ | 3 |
| Post-bronchodilator lung function | |
| FEV1 (% pred) | 64.1 (52.0–76.1) |
| FEV1/FVC | 0.52 (0.44–0.56) |
| TLC (% pred) | 112.1 (105.9–122.0) |
| RV (% pred) | 135.5 (124.9–158.5) |
| RV/TLC (% pred) | 114.9 (103.4–127.4) |
| Baseline inflammatory characteristics | |
| Sputum cells | |
| Eosinophils (%) | 1.8 (0.7–4.0) |
| Neutrophils (%) | 72.8 (67.0–80.3) |
| Macrophages (%) | 18.0 (13.4–25.3) |
| Lymphocytes (%) | 0.7 (0.1–1.2) |
| Bronchial epithelial cells (%) | 2.0 (0.65–3.55) |
| Sputum supernatant proteins | |
| ECP (µg·L−1) | 194.0 (58.6–718.0) |
| LTB4 (ng·mL−1) | 0.49 (0.28–1.21) |
Data are presented as n or median (interquartile range). ICS: inhaled corticosteroid; LABA: long-acting β-agonist; LAMA: long-acting muscarinic antagonist; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC: forced vital capacity; TLC: total lung capacity; RV: residual volume; ECP: eosinophilic cationic protein; LTB4: leukotriene-B4. #: daily dose of ICS calculated for indexed budesonide equivalent; ¶: additional short-acting β-agonist and/or short-acting muscarinic antagonist as needed.