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Asthma is considered an eosinophilic disorder, and anti-inflammatory treatment (i.e., inhaled corticosteroids [ICS]), is aimed at eosinophilic airway inflammation. However, because many asthma patients do not respond to traditional therapy, recent attention has focused on the heterogeneity of this disorder.
Investigators reviewed sputum studies from nine clinical trials involving patients with mild-to-moderate asthma (age range, 12–70 years). In patients not receiving ICS who provided multiple sputum samples, 53% had persistent or intermittent sputum eosinophilia and 47% never had eosinophilia. Most patients were allergic, all had reversible airflow obstruction or methacholine hyperreactivity, and both eosinophilic and noneosinophilic patien…