Outcomes of rapid corticosteroid tapering in acute eosinophilic pneumonia patients with initial eosinophilia

Background and objective Studies have shown that patients with acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) and with initial eosinophilia have a milder disease than those with an initial normal peripheral eosinophil count (PEC). We investigated the effect of a rapid corticosteroid tapering strategy in AEP patients with initial eosinophilia. Methods We performed a prospective cohort study in patients with AEP with initial eosinophilia (n-=-14) who stopped corticosteroid treatment after achieving clinical stabilization compared with AEP patients with an initial normal PEC (n-=-45) who received 2-week treatment with corticosteroid. Results In total, 59 AEP patients were identified. The median duration of corticosteroid treatment was 4 days (interquartile ranges (IQR), 3-4) in patients with initial eosinophilia and 14 (IQR, 14-14) days in patients with initial normal PEC. No treatment failure occurred in the group with initial eosinophilia; one treatment failure case occurred in the group with an initially normal PEC. The median time to overall clinical stabilization was 3 days, and time to complete resolution of all symptoms and clinical instabilities from diagnosis was 4 days in AEP patients with initial eosinophilia. Both were significantly shorter than those) in the initially normal PEC group, which were 5 and 7 days respectively (both P-<-0.001). Adverse effects were lower in AEP patients with initial eosinophilia, and additional medications to relieve adverse effects were only needed in AEP patients with initially normal PEC. Conclusions Rapid corticosteroid tapering may be an acceptable treatment strategy for managing AEP patients with initial eosinophilia. Studies have shown that patients with acute eosinophilic pneumonia and initial eosinophilia have a mild disease. We showed that rapid corticosteroid tapering could be acceptable in managing AEP patients with initial eosinophilia.