A recent study published in Medical Sciences (April 2017) has shown that patients with both bronchiectasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience more frequent and longer exacerbations than patients with only COPD.
The study, titled: Exacerbations in COPD Patients with Bronchiectasis, aimed to evaluate the frequency and severity of bacterial exacerbations in patients with both COPD and bronchiectasis as there is evidence that coexisting bronchiectasis in patients with COPD aggravates the course of the disease.
The study found that there were significantly higher mean durations, and significantly shorter mean exacerbation-free intervals in COPD patients with bronchiectasis.
The findings support the theory that early identification of patients with COPD and bronchiectasis would be an important advance, as it would provide opportunities to start an appropriate treatment.
