Abstract
Background: The coexistence of both Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis (NCFB) has been recently defined as an emerging phenotype of patients who experience a worse prognosis; however, data about these patients do not consider baseline variables as cofounders.
Objective: The objective of our prospective study was to evaluate the role of NCFB on the clinical impact and prognosis of hospitalized patients with Acute Exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD).
Methods: Data were analysed by a propensity score matching (PSM) and divided in AECOPD without and with NCFB. Clinical, laboratory, microbiological, and severity data were evaluated at admission and at day 3 of hospitalization. Data on prognosis were recorded in the follow-up of 30 days, 6 months, 1 year and 3 years.
Results: Of 449 consecutive AECOPD patients enrolled, 105 had associated NCFB. AECOPD patients with NCFB were older, with a lower body mass and a greater impairment on functional, symptoms and questionnaire-reported severity characteristics than AECOPD without NCFB. After PSM, 104 patients were considered for each group and no significant differences were found in all baseline characteristics.
In full cohort the cumulative mortality rate, the risk of death and the time to death were worse in AECOPD with NCFB (Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test p=0.007, p=0.001, p=0.003 in the follow-up of 6 months, 1 year and 3 years, respectively). After PSM data about mortality were similar between AECOPD with and without NCFB.
Conclusion: After elimination of confounding factors, our study demonstrates that the presence of NCFB does not influence the risk of death in a long-term follow-up.
- Copyright ©the authors 2017
