TY - JOUR T1 - Clinical Characteristics and Corticosteroid Treatment of Acute Eosinophilic Pneumonia JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/09031936.00221811 SP - erj02218-2011 AU - Chin Kook Rhee AU - Kyung Hoon Min AU - Nam Yeol Yim AU - Ji Eun Lee AU - Na Rae Lee AU - Man Pyo Chung AU - Kyeongman Jeon Y1 - 2012/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2012/05/16/09031936.00221811.abstract N2 - The clinical characteristics and optimal duration of corticosteroid treatment for acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) have not been fully evaluated. This was a retrospective study of prospectively collected data of 137 patients with AEP treated with standardized protocol to clarify the clinical characteristics and to compare the efficacies of two weeks vs. four weeks of corticosteroid treatment for AEP. The majority of the patients altered their smoking habits within a median of 17 (interquartile range, 13 – 26) days prior to development of AEP. Eighty (58%) patients presented with acute respiratory failure. A total of 127 (92%) patients were treated with corticosteroid: for four weeks in 42 and for two weeks in 85. Major symptoms were resolved in three days and severity of respiratory failure was inversely correlated with clinical outcomes. After adjusting for differences in baseline characteristics between the groups, the differences in adjusted means (95% CI) for resolution of dyspnoea and disappearance of all symptoms were 0.57 (−0.71–1.86) days and −0.04 (−1.91–1.83) days, respectively. The difference in adjusted proportion of resolution of radiological abnormalities was 6.92% (−8.19–22.02). In conclusion, the duration of corticosteroid treatment could be shortened to two weeks even in patients with respiratory failure. ER -