Seasonal variation of eosinophil counts in histologically normal colonic mucosal biopsies

The eosinophil counts in colonic biopsies are affected by geographical and possibly seasonal variations. This study aims to investigate the significance of seasonal variations of eosinophil counts in histologically normal colonic mucosal biopsies. This is a retrospective, cross sectional study that included 337 cases of normal colonic biopsies. The number of eosinophils per high power field was counted in the most densely populated area. The eosinophilic counts were compared among genders, age groups, biopsy sites and in various months and seasons. Two tailed T-test was used to compare means and a p value < 0.05 was considered significant. 173 (51%) of cases were from males. The age range was between 18-82 with the mean being 51.7 years (SD= 17.5). 181 (54%) biopsies were from the right colon and 156 (46%) from the left colon. There was a statistically significant difference between eosinophil counts in the right colon (mean 20.2, SD 13.2) and left colon (mean 13.8, SD10.1); p value