Tables 3 and 4 show that after normalizing for the effects of age, BMI, pack-year, creatinine, gender, smoking status, hypertension, and ICS, cathepsin S levels and age were significantly correlated with the development of severe airflow obstruction [p = 0.005, odds ratio (OR) = 0.32, and p = 0.001, OR = 3.82, resp.]. Here, CTSS is linked to Hypertension.