Abstract

Background: Airway inflammation, identified by blood eosinophil, is a characteristic of COPD acute exacerbation. Realizing the impact of eosinophil on identifying airway inflammation among patients hospitalized for acute COPD exacerbation. Objectives: 1. To describe the clinical and paraclinical characteristics of patients with COPD acute exacerbation. 2. To evaluate the relationship between blood eosinophils and the hospital length of stay of patients with COPD acute exacerbation. Materials and methods: Crosssectional study with 100 patients who had COPD and were admitted to the hospital due to COPD acute exacerbations. Results: Patients who had blood eosinophils of < 2% had longer hospital length of stay compared to patients with a high eosinophil count of ≥ 2% (9.77 and 8.26 days respectively) (p < 0.05). The length of stay of patients who had blood eosinophil count of < 100/μL, 100 - 300/ μL, and > 300/ μL was 10.07 days, 8.95 days, and 7.04 days (p < 0.01). Conclusion: There was an association between low blood eosinophils and longer hospital length of stay