Prevalence, causes, and chest sonographic findings of bronchiectasis among admitted patients in tertiary care hospital: 10 years’ experience

Bronchiectasis may be associated and/or co-exist with respiratory diseases as bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or non-respiratory diseases. However, data about this association and/or co-existence is little. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of bronchiectasis among admitted patients in the Chest Department in 10 years’ period (2008–2018) and to detect associated and/or co-existent respiratory diseases. In a retrospective cohort study, the diagnosis of bronchiectasis was based on chest HRCT. Data included the total number of hospitalized patients during this period, their final diagnosis, co-existing diagnosis associated with bronchiectasis, and sonographic and spirometric findings. The total number of patients admitted in 2008–2018 was 17,531 patients. The prevalence of bronchiectasis during this period was 9.04%. COPD was the commonest suspected cause (54.1%) followed by post-tuberculosis bronchiectasis (17.1%). On admission, 63.7% had acute type 2 respiratory failure, 21.1% had decompensated cor pulmonale, 3.8% required mechanical ventilation (MV), and 1.3% required non-invasive MV. On discharge, 9.9% required long-term oxygen therapy. The presence of B lines in chest ultrasonography was recorded in 68.2% and air bronchogram in 29.1%. The prevalence of bronchiectasis among admitted patients was still increasing. COPD with bronchiectasis accounted for more than half of cases. More researches are needed to identify the impact of the COPD-bronchiectasis phenotype. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04101448