Integrative analysis identifies gene signatures mediating the effect of DNA methylation on asthma severity and lung function

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of 142 asthmatic and control subjects

Characteristic	Asthma-risk group
Characteristic	Control (n = 46)	Mild-moderate (n = 47)	Severe (n = 49)	P value
Age (years), mean ± SD	36.78 ± 11.58	37.04 ± 14.28	43.55^* ± 11.05	0.010
Gender (% female)	65	64	82
Race (% AA/EA/Other)	63/28/9	70/30/0	45/55/0
Current smoking status at bronchoscopy (% yes)	15	4	4
Maternal asthma (% yes)	9	40	33
BMI (kg/m²), mean ± SD	28.64 ± 5.80	29.58 ± 6.46	38.09*** ± 9.65	< 0.001
Mean abs FEV₁, mean ± SD	3.2 ± 0.68	2.75* ± 0.99	1.99*** ± 0.59	< 0.001
Mean FEV1/FVC, mean ± SD	0.95 ± 0.11	0.82*** ± 0.18	0.66*** ± 0.18	< 0.001
Total serum IgE (IU/mL), Median	50.50	115.50*	194.00	0.049
(Lower, upper quartile)	21.25–167.75	47.50–349.25	22.00–312.00
BAL eosinophilia (%), Median	0.00	2.90***	3.05***	< 0.001
(Lower, upper quartile)	0.00–0.50	1.55–5.10	1.28–6.33
BAL neutrophilia (%), Median	4.90	5.40	4.60	0.520
(Lower, upper quartile)	3.20–6.40	3.55–7.00	2.65–6.50
Blood eosinophilia (cells/μL), Median	10.00	17.00*	17.50	0.040
(Lower, upper quartile)	7.00–17.00	9.50–28.50	7.00–30.25

Asthma severity is categorized based on STEP classification as mild, moderate, and severe asthma
AA African American, EA European American, BMI body mass index, FEV1 forced expiratory volume at 1 s, FVC forced vital capacity, FEV1/FVC the ratio of FEV1 to FVC, IgE immunoglobulin E, BAL Bronchoalveolar lavage
The significance levels of comparison (mean/median of mild-moderate asthmatics vs controls and severe asthmatics vs controls) were indicated by the stars (***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05). The P-values are for three-group (control, mild-moderate and severe) comparison

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