The following is a summary of “Reliability of blood eosinophil count in steady-state bronchiectasis,” published in the January 2024 issue of Pulmonology by Martínez-García et al.
The baseline value of eosinophils in peripheral blood (BEC) has implications for bronchiectasis patients’ severity, prognosis, and treatment response. However, it remains unclear whether this baseline value remains consistent over time.
This study aims to evaluate the stability of BEC in the long term among bronchiectasis patients.
Patients from the RIBRON bronchiectasis registry, diagnosed by computed tomography with at least two BEC measurements one year apart, were included. Patients with asthma and those taking anti-eosinophilic drugs were excluded. Reliability was assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Patients with a BEC of at least 300 cells/uL or less than 100 cells/uL were considered eosinophilic or eosinopenic, respectively. Changes in group status over time were also analyzed.
About 731 patients were included, with a mean age of 66.5 years (65.8% women). A total of 2,701 BEC measurements were conducted, with a median of 4 measurements per patient, separated by a median of 12.1 months between consecutive measurements. The ICC was good (>0.75) between two consecutive measurements (approximately one year apart) but decreased significantly by the time of the next annual measurements. Likewise, the transition from eosinophilic or eosinopenic to non-eosinophilic or non-eosinopenic status, respectively, was less than 30% during the first year compared to baseline but approached 50% in subsequent measurements.
Given the observed significant changes in baseline BEC values over time, regular monitoring is necessary for bronchiectasis patients to assess its clinical utility reliably.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2531043723002040