[Long-term study of the evolution of chronic bronchitis detected by questionnaire 10 years earlier]

The longitudinal study carried out in a group of inhabitants from Craiova showed that 16,2% of these, classified according to previously filled questionnaires as suffering from chronic bronchitis, and 10,7% of those classified as suffering from minor forms of bronchitis (sporadic symptoms) had died, and one third of them were not found when the investigation was repeated. Re-examination of 106 adults with chronic bronchitis showed that the symptoms had disappeared in two-thirds of them, especially in those who gave up smoking; in 19,8% of them the symptoms had become more severe due to repeated attacks. Bronchial obstruction was present in 36% of the cases, and alterations in the small bronchial ducts were present in two-thirds of the patients. In 18-24% of the patients with minor forms of bronchitis the symptoms were more severe and chronic, and they can be classified as chronically ill patients. Frequently there were altered spirographic values. This study demonstrates that chronic bronchitis may evolve to: a) remission of the symptomatology (especially after suppression of smoking); b) more or less unmodified persistence of symptoms; c) increased severity of the symptoms following repeated acute attacks. Almost 25% of cases with sporadic coughing and expectoration became chronically ill over a period of 10 years. The questionnaire was demonstrated as having retrospective value for making a diagnosis of chronic bronchitis, but cough and expectoration are not sufficient for a differential assessment of the evolution, the spirographic data being of decisive importance.