Hannah R Whittaker,1 Hana Müllerova,2 Deborah Jarvis,1 Neil C Barnes,2 Paul W Jones,2 Chris H Compton,2 Steven J Kiddle,3 Jennifer K Quint11National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK; 2Respiratory Epidemiology, GlaxoSmithKline R&D, Uxbridge, UK; 3MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKBackground: Inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)-containing medications slow rate of decline of FEV1. Blood eosinophil (EOS) levels are associated with the degree of exacerbation reduction with ICS.Purpose: We investigated whether FEV1 decline differs between patients with and without ICS, stratified by blood EOS level.Patients and methods: The UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (primary care records) and Hospital Episode Statistics (hospital records) were used to identify COPD patients aged 35 years or older, who were current or ex-smokers with ≥2 FEV1 measurements ≥6 months apart. Prevalent ICS use and the nearest EOS count to start of follow-up were identified. Patients were classified at baseline as higher stratum EOS (≥150 cell/μL) on ICS; higher stratum EOS not on ICS; lower stratum EOS (
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