TABLE 1.
Characteristics of bronchiectasis patients with and without upper airway symptoms (UASs)
| No UASs | UASs | p-value | |
| Subjects | 127 | 70 | |
| Female | 76 (61.4) | 49 (70.0) | 0.238 |
| Age at onset years | 45.85±23.7 | 33.65±24.7 | 0.001 |
| Current age years | 65.8±14.7 | 60.2±16.7 | 0.016 |
| Time from onset to diagnosis years | 12.6 (3.7–27.5) | 23.8 (7.4–45.9) | 0.027 |
| Aetiology# | |||
| Presence of asthma | 7 (5.5) | 10 (14.3) | 0.036 |
| Idiopathic aetiology | 56 (44.1) | 34 (48.6) | 0.546 |
| COPD | 10 (7.9) | 2 (2.9) | 0.219 |
| Post-infectious aetiology | 37 (29.1) | 9 (12.9) | 0.010 |
| Gastro-oesophageal reflux | 0 | 1 (1.4) | NA |
| Radiation therapy | 6 (4.7) | 2 (2.9) | NA |
| Inflammatory bowel disease | 0 | 1 (1.4) | NA |
| Immune deficiency | 5 (3.9) | 5 (7.1) | NA |
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 3 (2.4) | 1 (1.4) | NA |
| Others/not completed evaluation | 3 (2.4) | 6 (8.5) | NA |
| Eosinophils µL−1 | n=123 200 (100–280) |
n=67 230 (100–400) |
0.015 |
| IgE IU·mL−1 | n=75 42 (11–119) |
n=50 100 (11.8–328) |
0.085 |
| IgG IU·mL−1 | n=98 1160 (1005–1388) |
n=62 1182 (945.3–1420) |
0.944 |
| FEV1 % pred | n=118 77.5±26.0 |
n=66 83.5±25.6 |
0.134 |
| Chest CT Reiff score | n=109 7 (6–12) |
n=56 6 (4–8.75) |
0.031 |
| Sinus CT Lund–Mackay score | n=61 2 (0–6) |
n=45 9 (3.5–12.5) |
<0.0001 |
| Exacerbations per year | n=122 2 (1–4) |
n=68 3 (2–4) |
0.135 |
| Occurrence of exacerbation in previous year | n=122 104 (85.2) |
n=68 63 (92.6) |
0.134 |
Data are presented as n, n (%), mean±sd or median (interquartile range), unless otherwise stated. COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; CT: computed tomography; NA: not available. #: more than one aetiology may be present for some patients and therefore percentages exceed 100%. p<0.05 was considered significant.