Anthony De Soyza, Philip Mawson, Adam T. Hill, Stuart Elborn, Judy M. Bradley, Charles S. Haworth, R. Andres Floto, Robert Wilson, Michael R. Loebinger... et al (see below)

Link to publication page: https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/7/2/00775-2020

Journal Ref: ERJ Open Research 2021 7: 00775-2020; DOI: 10.1183/23120541.00775-2020

Abstract:

Full Authors: Anthony De Soyza, Philip Mawson, Adam T. Hill, Stuart Elborn, Judy M. Bradley, Charles S. Haworth, R. Andres Floto, Robert Wilson, Michael R. Loebinger, Mary Carroll, Megan Crichton, James D. Chalmers, Anita Sullivan, Jeremy Brown, John R. Hurst, Jamie Duckers, Martin Kelly, John Steer, Tim Gatheral, Paul P. Walker, Craig Winstanley, Alistair McGuire, David Denning, Richard McNally.

Bronchiectasis has been a largely overlooked disease area in respiratory medicine. This is reflected by a shortage of large-scale studies and lack of approved therapies, in turn leading to a variation of treatment across centres. BronchUK (Bronchiectasis Observational Cohort and Biobank UK) is a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study working collaboratively with the European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration project. The inclusion criteria for patients entering the study are a clinical history consistent with bronchiectasis and computed tomography demonstrating bronchiectasis. Main exclusion criteria are 1) patients unable to provide informed consent, 2) bronchiectasis due to known cystic fibrosis or where bronchiectasis is not the main or co-dominant respiratory disease, 3) age <18 years, and 4) prior lung transplantation for bronchiectasis.

The study is aligned to standard UK National Health Service (NHS) practice with an aim to recruit a minimum of 1500 patients from across at least nine secondary care centres. Patient data collected at baseline includes demographics, aetiology testing, comorbidities, lung function, radiology, treatments, microbiology and quality of life. Patients are followed up annually for a maximum of 5 years and, where able, blood and/or sputa samples are collected and stored in a central biobank.

BronchUK aims to collect robust longitudinal data that can be used for analysis into current NHS practice and patient outcomes, and to become an integral resource to better inform future interventional studies in bronchiectasis.