Effects of ultrafine particles on the allergic inflammation in the lung of asthmatics: results of a double-blinded randomized cross-over clinical pilot study

Table 3 Post hoc sequence analysis of total and differential cell count in BAL

*Sequence (A): 1* ^st *Period: UFP – 2* ^nd *Period: Filtered air*
BAL Cells [10⁶]	UFP _{mean (allergen-saline)}	Filtered air _{mean (allergen-saline)}	Treatment effect (UFP-FA)	95%-confidence interval	p-value
Total cells	13.4	75.1	−61.6	−110.4; −12.8	0.021
Eosinophils	13.2	64.1	−50.9	−95.5; −6.3	0.031
Monocytes	0.9	5.7	−4.8	−8.3; −1.4	0.013
Macrophages	0.3	6.9	−6.6	−18.7; 5.5	0.232
Neutrophils	−0.8	1.9	−2.7	−7.6; 2.1	0.219
Lymphocytes	0.0	1.0	−1.0	−3.1; 1.2	0.313
*Sequence (B): 1* ^st *Period: Filtered air – 2* ^nd *Period: UFP*
BAL Cells [10⁶]	Filtered air _{mean (allergen-saline)}	UFP _{mean (allergen-saline)}	Treatment effect (UFP-FA)	95%-confidence interval	p-value
Total cells	4.5	29.3	24.8	−33.2; 82.8	0.300
Eosinophils	3.7	26.1	22.5	−25.5; 70.4	0.263
Monocytes	0.4	3.5	3.2	−5.7; 12.0	0.377
Macrophages	0.6	0.7	0.1	−5.8; 6.0	0.951
Neutrophils	0.2	1.1	0.8	−2.2; 3.8	0.492
Lymphocytes	−0.1	0.6	0.6	−1.9; 3.2	0.531

Sequence analysis using t-test for two paired samples of the exposure sequence. (A) 1^st Period: UFP – 2^nd Period: Filtered air and (B) 1^st Period: Filtered air – ^2nd Period: UFP. Treatment differences between UFP and filtered air.

ISSN: 1743-8977