Eosinophilic inflammation in COPD: prevalence and clinical phenotype in COPD patients

Abstract

Abstract Background Eosinophilic COPD appears to be a distinct patient subgroup with a corticosteroid treatment response. Furthermore, some, but not all, studies have shown that higher blood eosinophil counts in COPD patients predict a higher exacerbation rate in the future. To date, to our knowledge, no population-based study has the prevalence of Eosinophilic COPD patients and their characteristics in Egypt. Aims To study prevalence of eosinophilic COPD and describe its phenotypic characteristics. Methods a cross sectional study in which we collected 112 COPD patients attending Ain Shams University outpatient clinics, to find the prevalence of eosinophilic COPD in Egypt and describe its phenotypic characteristics. Results the prevalence of eosinophilic COPD is 26.7% and there was a significant relationship between the eosinophilic COPD patients and BMI and smoking index, while there was no significant relationship between the eosinophilic COPD patients as regards age, sex, CAT score. Conclusion COPD is present in many apparent healthy persons; the prevalence of eosinophilic COPD in Egypt is 26.7%. COPD phenotype is more common in patients with higher BMI with higher smoking index and longer duration of smoking.