Creola bodies are a histopathologic finding indicative of asthma. Found in a patient's sputum, they are ciliated columnar cells sloughed from the bronchial mucosa of a patient with asthma. Other common findings in the sputum of asthma patients include Charcot-Leyden crystals, Curschmann's Spirals, and eosinophils (and excessive amounts of sputum).
In a study by Yoshihara et al. 60% of pediatric asthmatic patients demonstrating acute symptoms were found to have creola bodies in their sputum. These patients had increased levels of neutrophil-mediated cytokine activity concluding that "epithelial damage is associated with a locally enhanced chemotactic signal for and activity of neutrophils, but not eosinophils, during acute exacerbations of paediatric asthma."