TY - JOUR T1 - The reproducibility of COPD blood eosinophil counts JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.00427-2018 SP - 1800427 AU - Thomas Southworth AU - Gussie Beech AU - Philip Foden AU - Umme Kolsum AU - Dave Singh Y1 - 2018/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2018/04/26/13993003.00427-2018.abstract N2 - Post-hoc and pre-specified analyses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) randomised controlled trials have shown that higher blood eosinophil counts predict greater inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) effects on exacerbation prevention [1–5]. COPD patients with higher blood eosinophil counts have greater eosinophil numbers in sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage and bronchial tissue, and more reticular basement membrane thickening [6]. Furthermore, increased sputum eosinophil counts are associated with reduced airway presence of pathogenic bacteria in COPD [7]. Eosinophilic COPD therefore has distinct biological features associated with increased ICS responsiveness.Blood eosinophil counts in COPD are stable over the long termFootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: Dr. Southworth has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Beech has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Phil Foden has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. KOLSUM has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Singh reports personal fees from Apellis, grants and personal fees from Boehringer Ingleheim, grants and personal fees from Chiesi, personal fees from Cipla, personal fees from Genentech, grants and personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline, grants and personal fees from Glenmark, grants and personal fees from Menarini, grants and personal fees from Merck, grants and personal fees from Mundipharma, grants and personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Peptinnovate, grants and personal fees from Pfizer, grants and personal fees from Pulmatrix, personal fees from Skyepharma, grants and personal fees from Teva, grants and personal fees from Therevance, grants and personal fees from Verona, grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca, outside the submitted work. ER -