TABLE 2.

Studies investigating the effects of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on sputum immune cell counts

First author, year [ref.]	Length of treatment	Macrophages	Neutrophils	Eosinophils	Mast cells	Lymphocytes
Confalonieri, 1998 [ 74 ]	2 months (ICS)	↑	↓	=	X	=
Culpitt, 1999 [ 72 ]	1 month (ICS)	=	=	=	X	=
Yildiz, 2000 [ 73 ]	2 months (ICS)	=	↓	=	X	=
Loppow, 2001 [ 71 ]	1 month (ICS)	=	=	=	X	=
Mirici, 2001 [ 97 ]	3 months (ICS)	↑	=	=	X	=
Sugiura, 2003 [ 67 ]	1 month (ICS)	=	=	↓	X	=
Brightling, 2005 [ 70 ]	6 weeks (ICS)	=	=	=	X	=
Barnes, 2006 [ 63 ]	3 months (ICS/LABA)	X	↓	↓	X	X
Reid, 2008 [ 59 ]	6 months (ICS)	=	=	=	=	=
Lapperre, 2009 [ 60 ]	6 months (ICS)	=	=	=	X	=
	6 months (ICS/LABA)	=	=	=	X	=
	30 months (ICS)	↓	↓	=	X	↓
	30 months (ICS/LABA)	↓	↓	=	X	↓
Boorsma, 2008 [ 69 ]	6 months (ICS)	=	=	=	X	=
Asai, 2015 [ 68 ]	3 months (ICS/LABA)	X	=	X	X	X

=: no change; ↑: increase; ↓: decrease; X: not measured. LABA: long-acting β-agonist.