Bronchiectasis in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis: a case control study on clinical features and prognosis

ABSTRACT

Background

Bronchiectasis was reported in 2%-40% of patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV), but there were no studies on the prevalence, risk factors and impact of AAV-associated bronchiectasis in Chinese patients.

Research design and methods

AAV patients were retrospectively enrolled. The clinical, laboratory and imaging features and the prognosis were analyzed and compared between those with and without bronchiectasis.

Results

Bronchiectasis was present in 48/212 (22.6%) of our AAV patients, among whom 41 were confirmed in 210 patients (19.5%) who received chest HRCT at the initial diagnosis of AAV. There were more women and fewer smokers in those with bronchiectasis as compared to those without. Cases with positive anti-MPO were more likely to have bronchiectasis (26.2%), and those with bronchiectasis were more likely to be anti-MPO positive (93.8%). Patients who had a diagnosis of bronchiectasis before AAV were more likely to have nervous system involvement, while patients without bronchiectasis had higher 24h proteinuria. The presence of bronchiectasis showed no significant effect on the 1, 3, 5-year survival.

Conclusions

Nearly 20% of patients showed bronchiectasis on chest HRCT at the initial diagnosis of AAV, and positivity of anti-MPO was associated with bronchiectasis in a Chinese cohort of AAV patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis
• bronchiectasis
• retrospective study
• clinical research
• prognosis

Declaration of Interests

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Author contributions

All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and critically revising the paper, approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to be accountable for the same. Jiaqi Ren participated in the retrieval of cases, performed the collection and analysis of all data and image evaluation, and was a major contributor to the study design and manuscript. Yanling Ding participated in the retrieval of cases, and performed data analysis. Jinxia Zhao participated in the retrieval of cases and data analysis. Yongchang Sun was the primary investigator of this study and a major contributor to the study design, image evaluation and manuscript writing.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17476348.2022.2088512

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.