Assessment of health-related quality of life in patients with bronchiectasis colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Background/aims: Patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (BE) colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) tend to have worse health-related quality of life (QoL) when compared with non-colonized. The aim of this study was to compare changes in QoL during 1-year follow-up to identify the most vulnerable groups of BE patients colonized by PA.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal observational study of stable adult BE patients with at least one isolation of PA in the sputum culture in the last 6 months was conducted. At baseline, demographic and microbiological data, etiology of BE and severity scores were recorded. Every three months, pulmonary function, QoL using the Quality of Life Questionnaire-Bronchiectasis v3.1 (QOL-B), sputum culture and, number and time to first exacerbation and hospitalization were evaluated. Changes between the first (V1) and the last visit (V4) were contrasted among the following groups: A. Colonization by PA; B. Pulmonary function and C. Frequency of exacerbations.

Results: Main results are shown in Table 1. Patients with chronic colonization by PA showed worse QoL in Vitality and Emotional Function; Health Perceptions got worse in BE-COPD vs obstructive-BE vs BE; Health Perceptions were significantly lower in frequent exacerbators in both V1 and V4 but there were not significant changes over time in QoL. Regarding lung function, none of the groups evinced significant variations along time.

Conclusions: Chronic colonization by PA, BE-COPD and patients with ≥3 exacerbations/year were the identified vulnerable BE groups, associated with a worsening of QoL after 1-year follow-up. These findings should be validated in future studies with higher sample size.