Table 1.
Patient characteristics.
Fig 1.
Cluster analysis of qPCR-determined G:F ratios reveals three subgroups with different patterns of change through exacerbation.
(A) Heatmap representing the clustering of exacerbation episodes based on G:F ratio pattern across the four visit times. Blue shows Firmicute dominance and yellow Gammaproteobacterial dominance. (B) Changes in G:F across visit times. Mean ±SD. Points represent the individual sample G:F ratios.(****) p<0.0001. HF = High Firmicutes, HG = High Gammaproteobacteria and GF = Balanced G:F.
Table 2.
Comparison of patient characteristics between G:F clusters.
Table 3.
Comparison of inflammatory markers between the three clusters.
Fig 2.
Comparison of post-bronchodilator FEV1% across visit times in individual clusters shows significant decline in lung function at exacerbation in the HG cluster.
Each line connects individual an exacerbation episode across the 4 visit times. Episodes showing decline in Post-BD FEV1 between stable and Day 0 of >5% are represented in red and those with lesser declines at this visit are shown in blue. Note the preponderance of red lines in the HG cluster and blue lines in the HF cluster.
Fig 3.
A single G:F ratio assay at exacerbation identifies membership of the HG cluster.
Abbreviations G—Gammaproteobacteria; M. cat–M. catarrhalis; H. inf–H. influenzae; F–Firmicutes; S. pneum–S. pneumoniae; nph—neutrophils; eos–eosinophils.
Table 4.
Exacerbation G:F ratio identifies HG membership better than culture and qPCR.