Blood eosinophil-to-basophil ratio in patients with sinonasal polyps: Does it have a clinical role?

BACKGROUND: In a recent preliminary study, eosinophil and basophil counts were calculated in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) using conventional histologic and immunohistochemical methods. The tissue eosinophil-to-basophil ratio differed in the CRSwNP endotypes considered.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the blood eosinophil-to-basophil ratio (bEBR) in a large series of patients with CRSwNP with that in a control group of consecutive rhinological patients with no evidence of nasal, paranasal, or systemic inflammatory disorders.

METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 334 patients with CRSwNP to compare the preoperative bEBR among different endotypes and with controls (69 cases).

RESULTS: The mean bEBR was significantly higher in the CRSwNP group than in the control group (P = .0006). The eosinophil and basophil counts were significantly and directly correlated in the CRSwNP cases (P = .0000). The mean bEBR was significantly higher in the sub-cohorts of CRSwNP with allergy (P = .0007), asthma (P = .0000), and aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (P = .0153). The mean bEBR was significantly higher in the sub-cohort with eosinophilic CRSwNP than in the sub-cohort with noneosinophilic CRSwNP (P = .0000).

CONCLUSION: This study confirms the increasingly interesting role emerging for blood eosinophils and basophils in different CRSwNP endotypes. The bEBR seems to be a parameter worth investigating in different CRSwNP endotypes, because it is significantly higher in patients with allergy, asthma, and aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.