Association Between Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis and Quality of Life: A Single-Center Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Bronchiectasis is a chronic respiratory disease that can affect patients of all ages and significantly impact the quality of life (QOL) in patients who suffer from it. In spite of its widespread prevalence, and the significant impact on QOL, data on the quantitative impact of bronchiectasis on QOL is lacking. The Quality of Life-Bronchiectasis (QOL-B) is a self-administered patient-reported outcome measure, that was recently developed as a response to the emergent need for such measurement tools to study the impact of bronchiectasis on QOL. Methods We conducted a single-center cross-sectional study to study the correlation between QOL and various other outcome parameters such as exercise capacity, lung functions, co-morbidities, inflammatory markers, and body mass index (BMI). The secondary outcome was to find out various determinants of quality of life in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB). Results Forty-four patients who determined the pre-determined criteria for NCFB were enrolled in this study. This study demonstrated a significant impact on the QOL of NCFB patients based on the QOL-B scoring system. Almost all domains of QOL-B were found to be adversely impacted as measured by one or more of the outcome parameters but the FEV1, age, colonization, extension, dyspnea (FACED) score, bronchiectasis severity index (BSI) score, six-minute walk test (6MWD), and FEV1 showed associations across most scales while the other outcome parameters showed varying associations. Conclusions The QOL is significantly reduced in NCFB and it may be quantified using the QOL-B questionnaire. The impact on QOL in NCFB may be assessed using validated tools such as the FACED and BSI scoring systems, as well as other well-established outcome parameters like 6MWD and FEV1 predicted.