Risk factors for mortality in Finnish bronchiectasis patients: A four-year study

Abstract

Background: We aimed to identify the risk factors associated with all-cause mortality in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (BE) patients in a Finnish cohort. Methods: In this 4-years follow-up study, the data of non-cystic fibrosis adult BE patients were collected annually from medical records. Finnish translation of the disease-specific quality of life-bronchiectasis (QoL-B) questionnaire, the bronchiectasis severity index (BSI), FACED score, E-FACED score (exacerbations, (E), FEV1 (F), age (A), pulmonary bacterial colonization (C), number of lobes affected by BE (E), and dyspnoea (D), and modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnoea scale were used. Cox’s regression analysis was used to evaluate factors with mortality. Results: A total of 95 out of 205 adult non-cystic fibrosis BE patients were included and 79% of them were women with mean age of 69 years (SD ± 13). During the follow-up, eight patients died (8.4%). High scores of FACED (HR 1.9 CI 1.1–3.0), E-FACED (HR 1.5 CI 1.1–2.1) and mMRC (HR 3.2 CI 1.5–6.9) were increased the risk of mortality. The specific aetiology of BE, however, does not affect mortality. Low score of domains in QoL-B, physical (p < 0.01), vitality (p = 0.01), respiration (p = 0.03) and health (p < 0.01), were associated with mortality. Conclusion: Multifactorial FACED and BSI scores increased the risk of mortality. In addition, mMRC which is a single patient reported variable was predictive for mortality. The simple mMRC scale could provide a valuable tool for clinical use.