The Association Between Eosinophil Variability Patterns and the Efficacy of Inhaled Corticosteroids in Stable COPD Patients

Introduction: Blood eosinophils are a predictive marker for the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). However, there is concern over whether a single measure of blood eosinophils is sufficient for outlining a treatment plan. Here, we evaluated the association between variability in blood eosinophils and the effects of ICS in stable COPD cohorts.

Methods: COPD patients in the Korean COPD Subtype Study and the Seoul National University Airway Registry from 2011 to 2018 were analyzed. Based on blood eosinophils at baseline and at 1-year follow-up, the patients were classified into four groups with 250/μL as a cutoff value: consistently high (CH), consistently low (CL), variably increasing (VI), and variably decreasing (VD). We compared rates of acute exacerbations (AEs) according to ICS use in each group after calibration of severity using propensity score matching.

Results: Of 2,221 COPD patients, 618 were analyzed and a total of 125 (20%), 355 (57%), 63 (10%), and 75 (12%) patients were classified into the CH, CL, VI, and VD groups, respectively. After calibration, we found that ICS users tended to have a lower AE rate in the CH group (RR 0.41, 95% CI 0.21-0.74) and VI group (RR 0.45, 95% CI 0.22-0.88), but not in the CL group (RR 1.42, 95% CI 1.08-1.89) and VD group (RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.00-2.96).

Conclusion: More than one-fifth of patients had an inconsistent blood eosinophil level after the 1-year follow-up, and the AE-COPD rate according to ICS differed based on variability in eosinophils. Regular follow-up of blood eosinophils is required for COPD patients.