Asthma control and sputum eosinophils in adult patients: a cross-sectional study in southern Brazil

Asthma control and health related quality of life are an important goal of asthma management, but their association with sputum eosinophilic inflammation has been less firmly established. To investigate the relationship of asthma control and quality of life with sputum eosinophils in clinical practice. Cross-sectional study with a convenience sample, including patients with asthma, aged between 18 and 65 years, attending to outpatient clinic. Patients underwent sputum induction, pulmonary function tests, Juniper's Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), Asthma Control Test (ACT), Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria for evaluation of asthma control and severity of the disease, blood count analysis, serum IgE and cutaneous prick test. Sputum sample was considered as eosinophilic if the percentage of eosinophils was ≥ 3%. A total of 45 individuals were enrolled, 15 with eosinophilic sputum (≥ 3% eosinophil cells) and 30 with non-eosinophilic sputum (< 3% eosinophil cells). There were no association of ACT an AQLQ scores with sputum eosinophilia (p > 0.05). This study suggested that the finding of sputum eosinophilia was not related to asthma control neither with health-related quality of life in patients with severe asthma.