The clinical characteristics of patients with bronchiectasis in China show differences compared with cohorts in Europe and India. Bronchiectasis is more severe with a higher burden of exacerbations in...

BackgroundMacrolide maintenance therapy (MMT) has demonstrated notable efficacy in reducing exacerbation in patients with bronchiectasis, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular events. However, a comprehensive assessment of the cardiovascular benefits and safety profile of MMT in this population is lacking.MethodsThis territory-wide cohort study analyzed patients diagnosed with bronchiectasis in Hong Kong between 2001 and 2018. Patients were classified as MMT receivers or macrolide non-receivers based on the administration of MMT. Propensity score (PS) matching was employed for confounding factors adjustment. The primary outcome of interest was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction and stroke. The safety outcome was the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was utilized to compare the incidence of outcomes across the two groups.ResultsA total of 22 895 patients with bronchiectasis were identified. Following 1:2 PS matching, the final cohort consisted of 3137 individuals, with 1123 MMT receivers and 2014 macrolide non-receivers. MMT administration was associated with a significant reduced risk of MACE (16.38 versus 24.11 events per 1000 person years; HR 0.68; 95% CI 0.52–0.90). Importantly, the use of MMT was not associated with elevated risk of ventricular arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death (7.17 versus 7.67 events per 1000 person years; HR 0.93; 95% CI 0.60–1.44).ConclusionsThe administration of MMT in patients with bronchiectasis was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of MACE, without any evidence suggesting an increased risk of severe arrhythmia-related adverse events.

During this journal club, Merete Long, PhD, MSc will present the recently published European Respiratory Journal paper which describes their analysis of peripheral blood neutrophils from hospitalized ...

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved (27 December 2024) the medicine sotatercept (Winrevair) to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).