Aetiology of non-CF bronchiectasis in adults and its association to quality of life

Rationale: Patients with non-CF bronchiectasis (NCFB) often have exacerbations of their disease which affect the quality of life (QoL). Testing for underlying aetiology is a key part of bronchiectasis management. However, it is unclear if there is a relationship between QoL and the aetiology of NCFB. In the present study we compared the aetiology of NCFB with different levels of QoL bij using the QoL-bronchiectasis (QoL-B) score across our Northwest database. The secondary objective is to evaluate the correlation between QoL and disease severity based on the FACED and BSI scores. Methods: We conducted a single center, retrospective cohort study of patients with NCFB as recorded in our patient files. Demographic variables, aetiology, QoL-B score, FACED and BSI scores were obtained for each patient. Results: 147 patients with a mean age of 69 years and clinically stable NCFB were enrolled. The aetiologies were post-infective(38.1%), bronchus obstructive (25.9%), immunodeficiency(16.9%), idiopathic(10.2%), ABPA(2.7%), PCD(2%), RA(2%), reflux(2%) and MCTD(0.7%). There was no significant difference in QoL between different aetiologies (figure 1). There was a significant correlation between disease severity and QoL (figure 2). Conclusion: In this relatively small database QoL might not be an adequate marker to suspect specific aetiologies, but extending our database gives us hopefully more insights in QoL and the aetiology of NCFB.