TY - JOUR T1 - Assessment and evaluation of symptomatic steroid-naive asthmatics without sputum eosinophilia and their response to inhaled corticosteroids JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1364 LP - 1369 DO - 10.1183/09031936.02.00017502 VL - 20 IS - 6 AU - P. Godon AU - L-P. Boulet AU - J-L. Malo AU - A. Cartier AU - C. Lemière Y1 - 2002/12/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/20/6/1364.abstract N2 - Eosinophilic airway inflammation is one of the hallmarks of asthma. Sputum eosinophilia has been suggested as a predictor of the response to inhaled corticosteroids in asthma. This study sought to investigate the proportion of steroid-naive uncontrolled asthmatics without significant sputum eosinophilia (≤1%) and to examine whether sputum eosinophilia could predict the response to inhaled corticosteroids. A total of 51 mild uncontrolled steroid-naive asthmatics who had not been treated with oral or inhaled corticosteroids for at least 3 months were investigated. The evaluation included a spirometry, methacholine inhalation challenge and sputum induction on two occasions, one at baseline and the other after 1 month of treatment with 250 µg twice-daily fluticasone propionate. Of the 51 subjects, 15 had an eosinophil count ≤1%, and 46 completed the two visits. Patients with baseline sputum eosinophils ≤1% (n=14) were compared with those with sputum eosinophils >1% (n=32). The baseline characteristics of these two groups were similar. After 1 month of treatment, respiratory symptoms, quality of life, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and provocative concentration causing a 20% fall in FEV1 improved in both groups. The absence of sputum eosinophilia does not seem to be an indicator of poor response to inhaled corticosteroid treatment in steroid-naive asthmatics. However, this finding needs to be investigated further in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, entirely designed to answer this question. This study was funded by Réseau en santé respiratoire du FRSQ and GlaxoSmithKline Canada. C. Lemière and J-L. Malo are scholars of the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec. ER -