Sex related differences in clinical characteristics, quality of life and inflammation in bronchiectasis

Abstract

Bronchiectasis is a chronic airways disease characterised by permanent dilatation of bronchi, inflammation, daily sputum production and infective exacerbations. There is an unexplained female predominance in the prevalence of bronchiectasis in a range of small epidemiological studies. Assessment of quality of life in bronchiectasis uses several different health related quality of life questionnaires which are extensive and complex.

Pregnancy Zone Protein (PZP) is an anti-proteinase initially found in the serum of pregnant women. It has been associated with several inflammatory conditions but it’s exact role and significance is unclear. It has not previously been described in sputum.

This thesis describes the largest cohort study of bronchiectasis patients with data collected via the EMBARC project. This includes patient demographics, clinical characteristics, microbiology and quality of life from 29 different countries. It will describe the differences between men and women with bronchiectasis including how they perceive their disease.

A simple quality of life tool, the COPD Assessment Tool (CAT) will be validated for use in bronchiectasis. It will be examined for differences in the perceived quality of life between men and women.

To investigate the hypothesis that differences in the inflammatory protein PZP, which is hormonally regulated, underlie some of the differences between men and women with bronchiectasis, PZP was measured in a cohort of patients with bronchiectasis and investigate the association between PZP and sex, severity of disease and the microbiome.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Dundee
Sponsors	Chief Scientist Office
Supervisor	James Chalmers (Supervisor) & Amelia Shoemark (Supervisor)