Stephen C Lazarus, Jerry A Krishnan, Tonya S King, Jason E Lang, Kathryn V Blake, Ronina Covar, Njira Lugogo, Sally Wenzel, Vernon M Chinchilli, David T Mauger, Anne-Marie Dyer, Homer A Boushey, John V Fahy, Prescott G Woodruff, Leonard B Bacharier, Michael D Cabana, Juan C Cardet, Mario Castro, James Chmiel, Loren Denlinger, Emily DiMango, Anne M Fitzpatrick, Deborah Gentile, Annette Hastie, Fernando Holguin, Elliot Israel, Daniel Jackson, Monica Kraft, Craig LaForce, Robert F Lemanske, Fernando D Martinez, Wendy Moore, Wayne J Morgan, James N Moy, Ross Myers, Stephen P Peters, Wanda Phipatanakul, Jacqueline A Pongracic, Loretta Que, Kristie Ross, Lewis Smith, Stanley J Szefler, Michael E Wechsler, Christine A Sorkness
BACKGROUND: In many patients with mild, persistent asthma, the percentage of eosinophils in sputum is less than 2% (low eosinophil level). The appropriate treatment for these patients is unknown. METHODS: In this 42-week, double-blind, crossover trial, we assigned 295 patients who were at least 12 years of age and who had mild, persistent asthma to receive mometasone (an inhaled glucocorticoid), tiotropium (a long-acting muscarinic antagonist), or placebo. The patients were categorized according to the sputum eosinophil level (<2% or ≥2%)...
May 23, 2019: New England Journal of Medicine