Respiratory symptoms and health-related quality of life in post-tuberculosis subjects with physician-diagnosed bronchiectasis: a cross-sectional study

Taehee Kim; Hyun Lee; Yun Su Sim; Bumhee Yang; Hye Yun Park; Seung Won Ra; Hyo Jun Jang; Seung-Jin Yoo; Sang-Heon Kim; Jang Won Sohn; Ho Joo Yoon; Yeon-Mok Oh; Yong-Soo Kwon; Hayoung Choi

doi:10.21037/jtd-20-3028

Respiratory symptoms and health-related quality of life in post-tuberculosis subjects with physician-diagnosed bronchiectasis: a cross-sectional study

J Thorac Dis. 2021 Aug;13(8):4894-4902. doi: 10.21037/jtd-20-3028.

Authors

Taehee Kim^{1

2}, Hyun Lee³, Yun Su Sim^{1

2}, Bumhee Yang⁴, Hye Yun Park⁵, Seung Won Ra⁶, Hyo Jun Jang⁷, Seung-Jin Yoo⁸, Sang-Heon Kim³, Jang Won Sohn³, Ho Joo Yoon³, Yeon-Mok Oh⁹, Yong-Soo Kwon¹⁰, Hayoung Choi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
² Lung Research Institute, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.
³ Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
⁴ Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea.
⁵ Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
⁶ Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan, Korea.
⁷ Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hanyang University Seoul Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
⁸ Department of Radiology, Hanyang University Medical Center, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
⁹ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
¹⁰ Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju, Korea.

Abstract

Background: Prevalence, respiratory symptoms, and quality of life (QoL) in post-tuberculosis (TB) subjects with bronchiectasis are not well elucidated.

Methods: Subjects who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 2007-2009 were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. We evaluated the prevalence of physician-diagnosed bronchiectasis among post-TB subjects. We compared respiratory symptoms, physical activity limitations, and QoL between post-TB subjects with and without bronchiectasis.

Results: The prevalence of bronchiectasis was 3.3% among 963 post-TB subjects. Post-TB subjects with bronchiectasis showed a higher rate of asthma (29.6% vs. 4.9%, P<0.001) than those without bronchiectasis. Post-TB subjects with bronchiectasis showed more cough (23.9% vs. 6.7%, P=0.033) and physical activity limitations due to respiratory diseases (35.0% vs. 8.9%, P=0.033) than those without bronchiectasis. Furthermore, compared with post-TB subjects without bronchiectasis, those with bronchiectasis had lower QoL measured by the EuroQoL five-dimension (EQ-5D) index (0.84 vs. 0.93, P=0.048). Linear regression analysis found that the EQ-5D index in post-TB subjects with bronchiectasis was significantly lower than in those without bronchiectasis (difference estimate =-0.089, P=0.030), especially in the anxiety/depression component.

Conclusions: Post-TB subjects with bronchiectasis had more cough and physical activity limitations and lower health-related QoL than those without bronchiectasis.

Keywords: Korea NHANES; Tuberculosis (TB); bronchiectasis; quality of life (QoL).