Table 1.

Studies published on the clinical effect of inhaled corticosteroids as monotherapy in bronchiectasis

Study	n	Age, years (range) Sex	Methodology	Treatment groups	Outcomes	COPD/asthma excluded	Improved outcomes	Adverse effects
Elborn et al. [98]	20	50 (range 30–65) 60% females	Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study	Inhaled beclomethasone (1500 µg/day) for 6 weeks	Symptoms Pulmonary function Sputum production	NA	FEV1: 101 mL; p = 0.03 Sputum production: 5 g/day; p = 0.003 PEFR: 15 L/min; p = 0.03, Cough visual score: 5 mm) p = 0.02	Oral candidiasis (1 patient, steroid group)
Tsang et al. [65]	86	57.7 (14.4) Sex NA	Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study	Fluticasone (1000 µg/day) for 12 months	Symptoms Pulmonary function Sputum production and purulence	Only asthma	24 h sputum volume improvement (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.1–6; p = 0.03) Especially in P. aeruginosa infection	NA
Hernando et al. [95]	77	68 (8.2) 51.9% females	Randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-masked study	Budesonide (800 µg/day) for 6 months	Symptoms Pulmonary function Quality of life Bronchial inflammation Microbiology	Yes	Eosinophils in sputum: 1.87% (p = 0.021) Tendency towards improvement in the other variables	NA
Martinez-Garcia et al. [99]	93	68.5 (8.4) 35% females	Randomized, double-blind (for effective dose) controlled study	Fluticasone (500 µg/day) Fluticasone (1000 µg/day) No ICSs for 6 months	Symptoms Pulmonary function Quality of life Need for rescue bronchodilator Microbiology	Yes	For 1000 µg/day of fluticasone Dyspnea (transition dyspnea index): 1.24; p = 0.02 Sputum production: 9.7 mL; p = 0.001 Persistent cough: 24%; p = 0.01 Rescue  short-acting β2 agonist: 2.72 /week; p = 0.001 SGRQ (% of patients with > 4 points): 51,2%; p = 0.003	For 1000 µg/day of F (vs. 500 µg/day) 19 vs, 7 patients, p = 0.04 Dry mouth [8], local irritation [4], dysphonia [4]
Joshi and Sundaram [100]	20	Range 15–60 years 9 females	Randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study	Beclomethasone (800 µg/day) for 4 months	Pulmonary function	Only asthma	Post-bronchodilator spirometric data not included in the analysis since baseline values were not reported separately for the two groups	NA

COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, NA not available, ICSs inhaled corticosteroids, FEV₁ forced expiratory volume in 1 s, PEFR peak expiratory flow rate, OR odds ratio, CI confidence interval, SGRQ St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire