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Paediatric bronchiectasis phenotypes and their association with clinical outcomes: development and validation in two

Vikas Goyal1,2,3,4, Don Vicendese5,6,7, Keith Grimwood4,8

  • 1Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and School of Medicine, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia drvikasgoyal@gmail.com.

Thorax
|June 8, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Researchers identified three pediatric bronchiectasis phenotypes: Baseline-Well, Wheeze-Dyspnoea Predominant, and Daily Wet-Cough Predominant. The Daily Wet-Cough phenotype is linked to more severe disease and hospitalizations.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Respiratory Medicine
  • Clinical Phenotyping

Background:

  • Chronic airway diseases benefit from phenotyping for clinical practice and research.
  • Paediatric bronchiectasis currently lacks established phenotypes.
  • This study aimed to develop and validate phenotypes for paediatric bronchiectasis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop robust phenotypes for paediatric bronchiectasis.
  • To investigate associations between identified phenotypes and clinical outcomes.
  • To validate these phenotypes in an independent cohort.

Main Methods:

  • Latent class analysis applied to two independent cohorts (BEST and BAMP) of children with bronchiectasis.
  • Phenotype identification in the BEST cohort (n=158) and validation in the BAMP cohort (n=198).
  • Analysis of clinical characteristics and outcomes associated with each phenotype.

Main Results:

  • A three-class model provided the best fit, yielding phenotypes labeled 'Baseline-Well', 'Wheeze-Dyspnoea Predominant', and 'Daily Wet-Cough Predominant'.
  • The 'Daily Wet-Cough Predominant' phenotype was consistently associated with more bronchiectatic lobes and higher rates of bronchiectasis-related hospitalizations in both cohorts.
  • Associations were statistically significant, though the strength of evidence varied between cohorts.

Conclusions:

  • Three novel and validated phenotypes for paediatric bronchiectasis have been identified.
  • These phenotypes are linked to distinct clinical outcomes, aiding in disease understanding.
  • The identified phenotypes may facilitate targeted interventions and optimize clinical trial participant selection.
Abstract

Keywords:
BronchiectasisChild

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