BLOOD EOSINOPHILIA IN CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE EXACERBATIONS

Abstract

Background; The short-term benefits of inhaled corticosteroids for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are greater in patients with evidence of eosinophilic airway inflammation. This study was conducted to determine the frequency of blood eosiniphilia in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD. Objective: To determine the frequency of blood eosinophilia in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations. Material and methods; A total of 159 patients with acute exacerbations of COPD were registered and their eosinophil count was done. All data was entered on SPSS-20 and analyzed. Setting: Study was conducted in the pulmonology department of Nishtar Hospital Multan. Study design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Sampling technique: Non probability consecutive. Results; Of these 159 study cases, 87 (54.7%) were male patients while 72 (45.3%) were female patients. Mean age of our study cases was 57.87 ± 8.99 years (with minimum age of our study cases was 44 years while maximum age was 70 years). Mean body mass index (BMI) of our study cases was 23.89 ± 2.74 kg/m², 32 (20.1%) were overweight and 16 (10.1%) were obese. Smoking was seen in 48 (30.2%) patients and 5% were light smokers, 10.1% were  moderate smokers and 15.1% were heavy smokers. Mean duration of COPD was 8.18 ± 2.34 years (with minimum duration of illness was 6 years while maximum duration was 14 years). Mean duration of acute exacerbation of COPD was noted to be 6.21 ± 1.71 days (ranging from 4 to 10 days). Blood eosinophilia was noted in 87 (54.7%) of our study cases.

Conclusion; Blood eosinophil count is a promising biomarker of response to inhaled corticosteroids in patients with COPD and very high frequency of blood eosinophilia was noted in our study. Blood eosinophilia was significantly associated with increasing age, heavy smoking and duration of COPD.

Keywords; Blood eosinophilia, COPD, acute exacerbations.