Associations of Total Serum IgE and Peripheral Blood Eosinophils with Childhood Asthma: a Longitudinal Retrospective Study

Abstract BackgroundChildhood asthma is a heterogeneous disease. The relationship of total serum IgE and peripheral blood eosinophil with childhood asthma are controversial. To determine whether total serum IgE and peripheral blood eosinophil are associated with long-term lung function, asthma severity and asthma control in children.MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal retrospective study in 383 childhood asthma patients with total serum IgE and peripheral blood eosinophil obtained at baseline. Peak expiratory flow (PEF) variability, predicted PEF percentage, asthma severity, asthma control test (ACT) score, and asthma control from each follow-up visit were recorded as phenotype outcomes. We correlated serum IgE and blood eosinophil with phenotype outcomes using generalized estimating equations. Additionally, we compared expression of microRNA in peripheral blood cells from nonallergic versus allergic patients.ResultsTotal serum IgE was positively associated with asthma severity (OR = 1.0014, P = 0.0071). Peripheral blood eosinophil was positively related to PEF variability (OR = 1.0052, P = 0.0002). Association of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) dose with phenotype outcomes were not significant. Compared with allergic patients, children with nonallergic asthma had higher asthma severity. We identified six interaction pathways specific to IgE from eight top differentially expressed microRNAs. ConclusionsBeside asthma control, total serum IgE is predictive of long-term asthma severity and peripheral blood eosinophil is closely related to PEF variability. We suggest that total serum IgE might be involved in modulating disease severity of both allergic and nonallergic asthma while peripheral blood eosinophilia reflects the status of longitudinal lung function.