Chest
Volume 128, Issue 2, August 2005, Pages 739-745
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Clinical Investigations
Quality-of-Life Determinants in Patients With Clinically Stable Bronchiectasis

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.128.2.739Get rights and content

Study objective

To determine the most important variables influencing health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with clinically stable bronchiectasis (SB)

Design

Cross-sectional study

Patients and interventions

A total of 86 patients (mean age, 69.5 years; SD, 8.9 years; 64% male) with SB were included. Data were collected on general patient characteristics, symptoms, laboratory findings, the extent of bronchiectasis, functional variables, medication in acute or stable phases, and the number of exacerbations. All patients completed the St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the variables significantly influencing HRQL in these patients

Results

Different clinical parameters (sputum, dyspnea, cough, and wheezing), spirometric variables, and laboratory parameters (fibrinogen), as well as the extent of bronchiectasis, medication, and the number of exacerbations were significantly correlated to the total questionnaire score, although only dyspnea (r2= 0.43, p < 0.0001), FEV1(r2= 0.33, p < 0.0001), and daily sputum production (r2= 0.2, p < 0.004) were independently correlated to the total score, globally explaining 55% of the total score variability. Systemic steroid treatment of exacerbations (r2= 0.17, p < 0.028) and the habitual presence of coughing (r2= 0.22, p < 0.004) and wheezing (r2= 0.16, p < 0.013) were in turn independently correlated to the activity and symptoms subscales, respectively

Conclusion

Dyspnea, FEV1, and sputum production are the strongest conditioning factors of HRQL in patients with clinically SB

Section snippets

Study Population

The present study comprised all patients with bronchiectasis involving more than one lobe or cystic bronchiectasis not attributable to cystic fibrosis (CF) in our center during the period between 1990 and June 2003. Patients with traction bronchiectasis due to severe emphysema or advanced fibrosis were excluded, as were those presenting with surgically treated bronchiectasis or chronic background diseases sufficiently serious to interfere with patient quality of life to a greater extent than

Results

A total of 132 patients had bronchiectasis involving more than one lobe or cystic bronchiectasis not attributable to CF during the prospective study period. Fifteen patients with traction bronchiectasis were excluded, along with 14 patients with severe pathology causing greater quality-of-life deterioration than the actual bronchial disease, 13 subjects with manifest physical or psychological incapacity to follow the study protocol, 2 patients with surgically treated bronchiectasis, and 2

Discussion

In our series, dyspnea, the FEV1value following bronchodilation, and daily sputum production were the most relevant HRQL-conditioning variables among the patients with non-CF SB, although other symptoms such as the presence of habitual coughing or wheezing also exerted a relative influence.

The SGRQ was designed by Jones et al7a little over a decade ago for specific application to COPD and other obstructive pulmonary diseases.16, 17, 18, 19, 20 In 1997, Wilson et al 8 validated the English

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  • DP Naidich et al.

    Computed tomography of bronchiectasis

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    This study was supported in party by the grant RedRespira-ISCiii-TRIC-03/11 from the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Spain.

    Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml)

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