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Salt chamber treatment is ineffective in treating eosinophilic inflammation in asthma
Author(s) -
Sandell J.,
Hedman J.,
Saarinen K.,
Haahtela T.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.363
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1398-9995
pISSN - 0105-4538
DOI - 10.1111/all.12061
Subject(s) - sputum , eosinophil cationic protein , medicine , placebo , asthma , eosinophil , eosinophilic , gastroenterology , inflammation , pathology , tuberculosis , alternative medicine
Background We have shown that salt chamber treatment reduces airway hyper‐responsiveness as an add‐on therapy in adult asthmatics on inhaled corticosteroids. Methods We assessed whether this effect is due to the suppression of eosinophilic airway inflammation. Thirty‐nine adult asthmatics on inhaled corticosteroids were randomized to receive active salt chamber treatment with low‐salt treatment 6.6 mg/m 3 ( n = 14), high‐salt treatment 10.8 mg/m 3 ( n = 15) or placebo 0.3 mg/m 3 ( n = 10) 10 times in a 2 weeks' period in a double‐blind manner. Results The level of induced sputum eosinophilic cationic protein μg/l, was 3070 before and 4651 after the low‐salt treatment period, on average. In the high‐salt treatment group, it was 12 192 μg/l vs 11 803 and in the placebo group 3942 vs 4144, respectively. Salt chamber treatment had no effect on sputum eosinophil or neutrophil cell numbers. Conclusions The reduction in hyper‐responsiveness observed in the previous study is probably not due to the effect on eosinophilic inflammation.