TY - JOUR T1 - Establishment of reference values for differential cell counts in nasal lavage of healthy young adults JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p3888 AU - Yanqing Xie AU - Jiaxing Xie AU - Kefang Lai AU - Nanshan Zhong Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p3888.abstract N2 - Background: Upper airway inflammation could be reflected by nasal lavage cytology test, which is characterized by advantages of non-invasive, simple, objective and costless. However, reference values nasal lavage cytology was not established.Objectives: To establish reference values and positive standard for nasal lavage cytology through screening normal healthy subjects and patients with allergic rhinitis according to strict inclusion criteria.Methods: 143 normal healthy volunteers (control) and 166 subjects with allergic rhinitis (AR) were enrolled after detailed history inquiry, physical examination and allergen skin prick test. Nasal lavage cytology tests were performed, and the standard for judgment was defined as the average count of different inflammatory cells per 20 fields under 200× microscopic vision.Results: There was no statistical significance in gender constitutional proportion, age, height and weight among each group. 95% CI of neutrophils, eosinophils was (0∼12.61)/×200 and (0∼1.70)/×200, respectively. The median (interquartile range) of neutrophils were 0 (0.65)/×200 in AR group, which showed no statistical difference (P>0.05) with that of normal group [0(0)/×200]. A significant difference was found in the median (interquartile range) of eosinophils [6.90(22.40)/×200] in AR group as compared with that of normal control group [0(0.10)/×200, P<0.001].Conclusions: Establishment of reference values of nasal lavage cytology test is helpful to discriminate normal individuals and patients with allergic rhinitis, but also a non-invasive tool for objective reflection on upper airway inflammation, which is of great value for scientific and clinical purposes. ER -