Bronchiectasis and Quality of Life; Which is the Best Questionnaire?

Abstract

In recent years, bronchiectasis has emerged as a heterogeneous syndrome, which can affect individual patients in very different ways. Given the growing interest in precision medicine, multidimensional assessment tools have been developed to assess the severity of this disease, which, however, have so far not included the quality of life assessment. However, there are several quality of life questionnaires that can be used in this condition, some of them adapted from other respiratory diseases, and others specifically designed for use in bronchiectasis. In this article we will review them, describing their main characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. We will also review how quality of life measurement can be applied to future tools to assess the heterogeneity of bronchiectasis, measuring its severity, activity and impact. These tools will allow us to determine precisely how each component of the disease affects each individual patient.

Keywords

• Bronchiectasis. Heterogeneity. Individualized medicine. Quality of life.