Prevalence and consequences of eosinophilic bronchitis in different clinical syndromes
| Eosinophilic bronchitis (%)* | Response to corticosteroid (level)** | Development of asthma | Airway remodelling | CAO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AHR = airway hyperresponsiveness; CVA = cough variant asthma; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; BDR = bronchodilator response; CAO = chronic airway obstruction; + = feature present; – = feature absent. *Prevalence reported in published studies with 95% confidence interval in parentheses. Eosinophilic bronchitis is defined as sputum eosinophils >2.5% or BAL eosinophils ≥1% (data from references 7, 10, 12, 14, 21, 25, 29, 30, 38, 39, 41, 42, 49–52, 59, 67–70, 78–82. ** Level of evidence where I = randomised controlled trial, III = observational before/after study. | |||||
| Asthma | 72 (66.3 to 77.6) | + (I) | N/A | + | + |
| Healthy | 5.5 (1.5 to 9.6) | – | – | – | – |
| Rhinitis | 50 (38.1 to 61.9) | ? | + | + | ? |
| Rhinitis with AHR | 77 (66.7 to 90.1) | ? | |||
| Cough | 31 (26.1 to 35.3) | + (III) | ? | ? | ?/+ |
| Episodic symptoms without asthma | 29 (18.6 to 39.8) | + (I) | + | ? | ? |
| CVA | 50 (34.1 to 65.9) | + (III) | + | + | ? |
| COPD | 29.6 (23.3 to 35.9) | + (I) | ? | + | + |
| COPD w/o BDR | 21 (13.8 to 28.6) | ||||
| COPD + BDR | 36 (16.3 to 56.4) | ||||