Beyond eosinophilia: inflammatory patterns in patients with asthma.

Recently, inflammatory cell ratios have gained importance as useful indicators in the categorization of asthma. We compared the concentration of white blood cells in peripheral blood, as well as their respective inflammatory cell ratios, between patients with asthma and a healthy control group. We performed cross-sectional analyses of the data obtained from 53 adult patients with asthma and 109 adult controls. In our study, we estimated and compared the following inflammatory cell ratios: Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Eosinophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (ELR), Eosinophil-Neutrophil Ratio (ENR), Eosinophil-Monocyte Ratio (EMR), and Platelet-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR). The magnitude of association was quantified with the odds ratio. In both groups, the average age was 33 years. In asthmatic patients, we obtained the following results: eosinophils ≥ 400 cells/µl, accounted for 37.7%; basophils ≥ 110 cells/µl, comprised 37.7%; and monocytes < 320 cells/µl, reached 11.3%. In the control group, the results were as follows: 4.6%, 9.2% and 0.9%, respectively. When compared to the control group, asthmatic patients had higher odds of eosinophils ≥ 400 cells/µl (OR = 12.61,  < 0.0001); higher odds of basophils ≥ 110 cells/µl (OR = 6.00,  < 0.0001); and increased odds of monocytes < 320 cells/µl (OR = 13.79,  = 0.017). NLR did not differ between our two groups; however, ELR, ENR, EMR and PLR were significantly higher in the asthma group. Overall, patients with asthma have a higher concentration of eosinophils and basophils, fewer monocytes in their blood, and higher ratios of increased chronic inflammation.