Predictive value of peripheral blood eosinophil levels for eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of peripheral blood eosinophil levels for eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis.Methods Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library. Data were analysed using Stata 16.0.Results In total, 23 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were analysed. For peripheral blood eosinophil percentage in identifying eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis, the pooled sensitivity was 0.77 (95 per cent confidence interval (CI) = 0.69-0.83) and specificity was 0.74 (95 per cent CI = 0.68-0.80), with a positive likelihood ratio of 2.97 (95 per cent CI = 2.38-3.72) and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.31 (95 per cent CI = 0.24-0.42). Similarly, for peripheral blood eosinophil count, the pooled sensitivity was 0.78 (95 per cent CI = 0.73-0.82) and specificity was 0.73 (95 per cent CI = 0.69-0.77), with a positive likelihood ratio of 2.93 (95 per cent CI = 2.45-3.50) and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.30 (95 per cent CI = 0.24-0.37).Conclusion There is not sufficient evidence to support peripheral eosinophilia as a good predictor of eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis.