ArticleRespiratory research2020
Blood neutrophil counts are associated with exacerbation frequency and mortality in COPD.
Article in Respiratory research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epithelial cells in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations: Targets for lung repair.Pharmacological reviews · 2026Review
- Alpha-defensins promote macrophage inflammatory activation via RNF31 signaling.Genes & genomics · 2026Article
- Treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: current pipeline and new opportunities.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2026Review
- Identification of Clinically Distinct Clusters in Patients With Severe COPD Using Circulating Blood Cell Population Parameters.Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) · 2026Article
- The gut-lung axis in COPD: immunomodulatory roles of gut microbiota and novel therapeutic strategies.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Neutrophil extracellular traps in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: pathogenic roles, and therapeutic opportunities.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Clinical and prognostic differences in mild to moderate AECOPD with and without emphysema: a 3-year multicenter prospective study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Neutrophil-derived extracellular vesicles in the plasma of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficient individuals reveal pro-inflammatory metabolic and transcriptomic signatures.Extracellular vesicle · 2025Article
- Development of a nomogram to predict 30-day mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated by sepsis: insights from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-IV) database.Journal of thoracic disease · 2025Article
- The relationship of Systemic Inflammatory Index with asthma in adults: A retrospective cross-sectional study.The Journal of international medical research · 2025Article
- COPD: the role of neutrophils in inflammation, pathophysiology, and as drug targets.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2025Review
- Development and validation of a machine learning-based model to predict the risk of hospitalization death in hospitalized patients with AECOPD.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Mechanisms and markers of lung ageing in health and disease.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2025Review
- Single-cell hdWGCNA reveals a novel diagnostic model and signature genes of macrophages associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2025Article
- The Importance of Lung Innate Immunity During Health and Disease.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Gene Expression Profiles Reveal Distinct Mechanisms Driving Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbations.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Observational
- Dysregulated NK cell activation and myeloid-lymphoid imbalance underpin COPD progression: insights from high-dimensional immune profiling and smoking-induced immune remodeling.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Phase 2a, Randomized Trial of Mitiperstat Versus Placebo in Patients with COPD at High Risk of Exacerbation (CRESCENDO).International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2025Article
- Peripheral Blood NMLR Can Predict 5-Year All-Cause Mortality in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2025Article
- What every clinician should know about inflammation in COPD.ERJ open research · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIdentifying patients with COPD at increased risk of poor outcomes is challenging due to disease heterogeneity. Potential biomarkers need to be readily available in real-life clinical practice. Blood eosinophil counts are widely studied but few studies have examined the prognostic value of blood neutrophil counts (BNC).
methodsIn a large population-based COPD registry in the East of Scotland (TARDIS: Tayside Allergic and Respiratory Disease Information System), BNC were compared to measures of disease severity and mortality for up to 15 years follow-up. Potential mechanisms of disease modification by BNC were explored in a nested microbiome substudy.
results178,120 neutrophil counts were obtained from 7220 people (mean follow up 9 years) during stable disease periods. Median BNC was 5200cells/μL (IQR 4000-7000cells/μL). Mortality rates among the 34% of patients with elevated BNCs (defined as 6000-15000cells/μL) at the study start were 80% higher (14.0/100 person years v 7.8/100py, P < 0.001) than those with BNC in the normal range (2000-6000cells/μL). People with elevated BNC were more likely to be classified as GOLD D (46% v 33% P < 0.001), have more exacerbations (mean 2.3 v 1.3/year, P < 0.001), and were more likely to have severe exacerbations (13% vs. 5%, P < 0.001) in the following year. Eosinophil counts were much less predictive of these outcomes. In a sub-cohort (N = 276), patients with elevated BNC had increased relative abundance of Proteobacteria and reduced microbiome diversity.
conclusionHigh BNC may provide a useful indicator of risk of exacerbations and mortality in COPD patients.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.