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Adjusting prednisone using blood eosinophils reduces exacerbations and improves asthma control in difficult patients with asthma
Author(s) -
Wark Peter AB,
McDonald Vanessa M,
Gibson Peter G
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
respirology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1440-1843
pISSN - 1323-7799
DOI - 10.1111/resp.12602
Subject(s) - medicine , asthma , exacerbation , prednisone , asthma exacerbations , peripheral blood
Severe or therapy‐resistant asthma represents a major problem, and despite advanced treatment, many patients require oral corticosteroids ( OCS ). We aimed to determine if patients with severe asthma and elevated peripheral blood eosinophils ( PBE ) could have treatment with OCS adjusted using an algorithm that controlled PBE (<0.2 × 10 9 /L). In 11 patients, the OCS dose was adjusted to suppress PBE , leading to a reduced exacerbation frequency and improvement in asthma symptoms with an overall lower OCS dose.