RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 European Respiratory Society statement for defining respiratory exacerbations in children and adolescents with bronchiectasis for clinical trials JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP 2200300 DO 10.1183/13993003.00300-2022 VO 60 IS 5 A1 Anne B. Chang A1 Angela Zacharasiewicz A1 Vikas Goyal A1 Jeanette Boyd A1 Efthymia Alexopoulou A1 Stefano Aliberti A1 Leanne Bell A1 Andrew Bush A1 Alison Claydon A1 Carolina Constant A1 Rebecca Fortescue A1 Adam T. Hill A1 Bulent Karadag A1 Zena Powell A1 Christine Wilson A1 Keith Grimwood A1 Ahmad Kantar A1 other members of Child-BEAR-Net A1 James Chalmers A1 Andrew Collaro A1 Kostas Douros A1 Matthias Griese A1 Jonathan Grigg A1 Andreas Hector A1 Oleksandr Mazulov A1 Fabio Midulla A1 Alexander Möller A1 Marijke Proesmans A1 Stephanie Yerkovich YR 2022 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/60/5/2200300.abstract AB Bronchiectasis is being diagnosed increasingly in children and adolescents. Recurrent respiratory exacerbations are common in children and adolescents with this chronic pulmonary disorder. Respiratory exacerbations are associated with an impaired quality of life, poorer long-term clinical outcomes, and substantial costs to the family and health systems. The 2021 European Respiratory Society (ERS) clinical practice guideline for the management of children and adolescents with bronchiectasis provided a definition of acute respiratory exacerbations for clinical use but to date there is no comparable universal definition for clinical research. Given the importance of exacerbations in the field, this ERS Task Force sought to obtain robust definitions of respiratory exacerbations for clinical research. The panel was a multidisciplinary team of specialists in paediatric and adult respiratory medicine, infectious disease, physiotherapy, primary care, nursing, radiology, methodology, patient advocacy, and parents of children and adolescents with bronchiectasis. We used a standardised process that included a systematic literature review, parent survey, and a Delphi approach involving 299 physicians (54 countries) caring for children and adolescents with bronchiectasis. Consensus was obtained for all four statements drafted by the panel as the disagreement rate was very low (range 3.6–7.2%). The panel unanimously endorsed the four consensus definitions for 1a) non-severe exacerbation and 1b) severe exacerbation as an outcome measure, 2) non-severe exacerbation for studies initiating treatment, and 3) resolution of a non-severe exacerbation for clinical trials involving children and adolescents with bronchiectasis. This ERS Task Force proposes using these internationally derived, consensus-based definitions of respiratory exacerbations for future clinical paediatric bronchiectasis research.This ERS Task Force statement developed internationally derived, consensus-based definitions of respiratory exacerbations for future clinical paediatric bronchiectasis research https://bit.ly/3sqT2YP