Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 22;23(1):96.
doi: 10.1186/s12890-023-02383-x.

Peripheral blood eosinophilia in adult asthmatic patients and its association with the severity of asthma

Yenealem Solomon  1 , Birhanemaskal Malkamu  2 , Ayenew Berhan  2 , Tahir Eyayu  2 , Andargachew Almaw  2 , Biruk Legese  2 , Berhanu Woldu  3
Affiliations

Peripheral blood eosinophilia in adult asthmatic patients and its association with the severity of asthma

Yenealem Solomon et al. BMC Pulm Med. .

Abstract

Background: Asthma is a diverse disease with various etiologic bases. Severe asthma can be associated with increased mortality, hospitalization, and decreased quality of life for asthma patients. High blood eosinophil counts were associated with severe asthma, but recent studies have failed to confirm this as a marker of severe asthma among adult asthma patients. As a result, the purpose of this study was to determine the association between the severity of asthma and high blood eosinophil count.

Methodology: A simple random sampling technique was used to select 291 asthmatic patients for an institution-based cross-sectional study. Socio-demographic, behavioral, and clinical characteristics were collected by using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Four milliliters of venous blood were collected from asthmatic patients for complete blood count and peripheral morphology assessment. The eosinophil count was analyzed by the Unicel DxH 800 (Beckman Coulter, Ireland) analyzer. A statistical package for social science version 20 (SPSS) software was used to analyze the data. The non-parametric (Mann-Whitney U) test was used to compare the eosinophil count with different background variables. A binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess the factors associated with eosinophilia. A p-value less than 0.05 in multivariable logistic regression analysis was considered statistically significant.

Result: In this study, the overall magnitude of eosinophilia was 19.6% (95% CI = 14.8-24.1). Being admitted to the emergency department (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.09-0.69, p = 0.007) and being female (AOR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.26-0.9, p = 0.025) were shown to have a statistically significant association with eosinophilia. Moreover, the absolute eosinophil count was significantly higher among asthmatic patients infected with intestinal parasitic infection (p < 0.045).

Conclusion: Being female and admission to the emergency department were negatively associated with eosinophilia. Lack of eosinophilia can be related to the low-T2 asthma phenotype. The absolute eosinophil counts were higher among intestinal parasite-infected patients. Therefore, different biomarkers will be considered for the proper diagnosis and management of adult asthma patients.

Keywords: Asthma; Eosinophilia; Severe asthma; Type2-low asthma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Sampling procedure
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA). Global strategy for asthma management and prevention. 2021, available from: http://www.ginasthma.org/
    1. World health organization (WHO) asthma fact sheet. 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/asthma. Accessed date, December 2021.
    1. Global Asthma Network (GAN). Auckland, New Zealand: The Global Asthma Report; 2018 [Accesed in May 2021]. Available from: http://www.globalasthmareport.org/Global%20Asthma%20Report%202018.pdf
    1. Backman H, Räisänen P, Hedman L, Stridsman C, Andersson M, Lindberg A, et al. Increased prevalence of allergic asthma from 1996 to 2006 and further to 2016—results from three population surveys. Clin Experimental Allergy. 2017;47(11):1426–35. doi: 10.1111/cea.12963. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lötvall J, Ekerljung L, Rönmark EP, Wennergren G, Lindén A, Rönmark E, et al. West Sweden Asthma Study: prevalence trends over the last 18 years argues no recent increase in asthma. Respir Res. 2009;10(1):1–11. doi: 10.1186/1465-9921-10-94. - DOI - PMC - PubMed