American Association of Immunologists

Table II.

Blood eosinophils and cell counts in BALF

	Asthma			Controls (n = 30)
	No Steroids (n = 29)	ICS Only (n = 21)	ICS + Oral Steroids (n = 20)	Controls (n = 30)
Blood eosinophils (cells/mm³)	175 (89–374)*	198 (128–421)*	177 (109–341)*	62 (21–239)
BALF
Total number (× 10⁶/ml)	1.8 (1.0–5.8)	2.1 (0.9–3.3)	1.9 (0.9–5.8)	1.6 (0.8–3.1)
Neutrophils	0.008 (0.0016–0.16)	0.05 (0.0015–0.13)*	0.05 (0.017–0.14)^,*	0.015 (0.0–0.07)
Eosinophils	0.04 (0.0–0.112)*	0.05 (0.019–0.12)*	0.06 (0.03–0.16)*	0.0 (0.0–0.2)
Lymphocytes	0.09 (0.03–1.11)	0.13 (0.04–0.25)	0.09 (0.03–0.19)	0.1 (0.03–0.95)
Macrophages	1.64 (0.84–5.46)	1.93 (0.8–2.9)	1.76 (0.76–3.0)	1.44 (0.74–2.84)

	Asthma			Controls (n = 30)
	No Steroids (n = 29)	ICS Only (n = 21)	ICS + Oral Steroids (n = 20)	Controls (n = 30)
Blood eosinophils (cells/mm³)	175 (89–374)*	198 (128–421)*	177 (109–341)*	62 (21–239)
BALF
Total number (× 10⁶/ml)	1.8 (1.0–5.8)	2.1 (0.9–3.3)	1.9 (0.9–5.8)	1.6 (0.8–3.1)
Neutrophils	0.008 (0.0016–0.16)	0.05 (0.0015–0.13)*	0.05 (0.017–0.14)^,*	0.015 (0.0–0.07)
Eosinophils	0.04 (0.0–0.112)*	0.05 (0.019–0.12)*	0.06 (0.03–0.16)*	0.0 (0.0–0.2)
Lymphocytes	0.09 (0.03–1.11)	0.13 (0.04–0.25)	0.09 (0.03–0.19)	0.1 (0.03–0.95)
Macrophages	1.64 (0.84–5.46)	1.93 (0.8–2.9)	1.76 (0.76–3.0)	1.44 (0.74–2.84)

Data are median (range).

*

p < 0.01 versus control or no steroids, **p < 0.01 versus ICS, Mann–Whitney U test.