CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS, RADIOLOGICAL FEATURES, AND DISEASE SEVERITY OF BRONCHIECTASIS ACCORDING TO THE SPIROMETRIC PATTERN

Abstract

Although various ventilatory disorders of bronchiectasis have been reported, studies on the characteristics and severity of patients with bronchiectasis according to these pulmonary dysfunctions are still very limited. We retrospectively evaluated 506 patients with bronchiectasis who underwent pulmonary function test at Chungbuk National University Hospital between 2014 to 2021. The median age was 66 years and 50.2% of all patients were male. Cylindrical type was the most common type(70.8%), and 70% of patients had bilateral lung involvement. Of patients, Obstructive ventilatory disorder was the most common(51.6%), followed by normal ventilation(30%) and restrictive ventilatory disorder(18.4%). The mMRC and the modified Reiff score was the highest in patients with obstructive ventilatory disorder, followed by those with restrictive ventilatory disorder and normal ventilation.(P<0.001 for mMRC scales; P<0.001 for modified Reiff score) Regarding disease severity, the BSI and FACED scores, were the highest in patients with obstructive ventilatory disorder, followed by those with restrictive ventilatory disorder and normal ventilation.(P<0.001 for the BSI score; P<0.001 for the FACED score]. The lung function declined significantly with the increase in the modified Reiff score (P<0.001 for all). Among patients with bronchiectasis, 52% had obstructive ventilatory disorder and 18% had restrictive ventilatory disorder. Bronchiectasis with obstructive ventilatory disorder had more dyspnea, and greater disease and radiological severity. The extent of bronchiectasis rather than radiologic type of bronchiectasis affects lung function impairment.