Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid IFN-𝜸⁺ Th17 Cells and Regulatory T Cells in Pulmonary Sarcoidosis

Table 1

Basic characteristics of the study population.

Characteristic	Sarcoidosis; (𝑁=30)	Other DPLDs; (𝑁=18)	Healthy controls; (𝑁=15)	𝑃^∗
Age, years (range)	46 (37–56)^##	63 (48–72)§§	35 (30–49)	0.03
Sex (male/female)	23/7	11/7	8/7	0.25
Smokers (current/former/never)	1/9/20	4/7/7	0/3/12	0.03**
FEV1, percentage of predicted	80 (68–90)	75 (63–88)§§	101 (95–104)	<0.001
FEV1/FVC	0.78 (0.73–0.83)^#	0.82 (0.78–0.88)	0.85 (0.81–0.86)	0.03
TLCO, percentage of predicted	92 (77–102)^##	57 (53–69)§§	103 (98–109)	0.01

Data are shown as median (IQR) unless otherwise stated. ^∗𝑃 values represent pairwise comparison between Sarcoidosis and healthy controls with Mann-Whitney 𝑈 test conducted if significant differences were found with Kruskal-Wallis test. ^§§𝑃<0.01 compared to healthy controls. ^#𝑃<0.05 and ^##𝑃<0.01 compared to other DPLD. ^∗∗𝑃 value from chi-squared test. DPLD: diffuse parenchymal lung disease; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 second; FVC: forced vital capacity; TLCO: transfer factor of the lung for carbon monoxide.