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How bad is a patient’s bronchiectasis?

If bronchiectasis is well controlled, there should be few symptoms and patients will be able to lead a normal life. When symptoms begin to interfere with normal life, such as frequent chest infections, it becomes more troublesome.

Indicators of more severe or less well controlled bronchiectasis are:

Clinically:
- Several parts of lungs are affected on CT scans.
- Declining or poor lung function on pulmonary function testing.
- Chronically colonised airways with bacteria from sputum samples, particularly Pseudomonas.
- Hospital admissions because of chest infection or requiring intravenous antibiotics.
- Impaired immune system which can also be associated with ageing.
Patient reported symptoms:
- Breathlessness – unable to walk 100m without stopping due to shortness of breath.
- Chest infections – 3 or more per year requiring antibiotic treatments.
- Weight loss - due to recurrent or chronic chest infections.
- Ageing - Lungs decline naturally.
- Variabilty of the patients ability to cope psychologically with their illness.

Many of these factors can improve with effective treatment.