BMC pulmonary medicine
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BMC pulmonary medicine · Feb 2013
Comparative StudyDistribution of sputum cellular phenotype in a large asthma cohort: predicting factors for eosinophilic vs neutrophilic inflammation.
Phenotyping asthma according to airway inflammation allows identification of responders to targeted therapy. Induced sputum is technically demanding. We aimed to identify predictors of sputum inflammatory phenotypes according to easily available clinical characteristics. ⋯ Eosinophilic and paucigranulocytic asthma are the dominant inflammatory phenotypes. Blood eosinophils provide a practical alternative to predict sputum eosinophilia but sputum neutrophil count is poorly related to blood neutrophils.