Stability of Blood Eosinophils in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and in Control Subjects, and the Impact of Sex, Age, Smoking, and Baseline Counts

• Published in: American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine Vol. 195; no. 10; pp. 1402 - 1404
• Main Authors: Oshagbemi, Olorunfemi A., Burden, Andrea M., Braeken, Dionne C. W., Henskens, Yvonne, Wouters, Emiel F. M., Driessen, Johanna H. M., Maitland-van der Zee, Anke H., de Vries, Frank, Franssen, Frits M. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Thoracic Society 15.05.2017
• Subjects: Age; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Data collection; Patients; Pharmaceutical sciences; Pharmaceuticals; Pneumonia; Population; Netherlands
• ISSN: 1073-449X; 1535-4970
• DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201701-0009LE

[...]there is a great interest in defining the COPD population most likely to benefit from ICS treatment (3). Peripheral blood eosinophil counts are increasingly recognized as a biomarker for a beneficial response to ICSs in COPD, although most of the current knowledge is derived from post hoc analyses of clinical trials and retrospective explorations (4). [...]it remains unknown whether the trajectory of blood eosinophils differs between patients with COPD and control subjects without COPD. [...]the aims of this study were to determine the stability of blood eosinophil counts over time in patients with COPD and control subjects without COPD derived from the general population and to examine the impact of sex, age, smoking status, and eosinophil counts at baseline on eosinophil stability. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted to describe the stability of eosinophil count for patients with COPD and matched control subjects (using the LIFETEST procedure, SAS 9.4; SAS Institute, Cary, NC). [...]this study indicated that stability of blood eosinophil counts was higher in patients with COPD with a baseline eosinophil count less than 0.343109 cells/L. [...]the results indicate that the prevalence of peripheral blood eosinophilia is increased in patients 2. Blood eosinophil count and exacerbations in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease after withdrawal of inhaled corticosteroids: a post-hoc analysis of the WISDOM trial. Blood eosinophil counts, exacerbations, and response to the addition of inhaled fluticasone furoate to vilanterol in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a secondary analysis of data from two parallel randomised controlled trials.