Bronchiectasis and pneumonia-hospitalization risk: The impact of social distancing measures – A cohort study

Background: Patients with bronchiectasis are at high risk of community acquired pneumonia. It remains unclear if this risk is reduced by social distancing (SD) measures.Methods: Nationwide registry study with data from patients with specialist verified bronchiectasis between 1 January 2019 and 20 May 2020. Pneumonia hospitalisation was the primary outcome. Patients with COVID-19 and age < 18 were excluded. The incidence of pneumonia hospitalisations in the SD period (12 March 2020 to 20 May 2020) was compared to the same period in 2019 (control period).Results: A total of 672 patients with bronchiectasis were followed in the SD period and the control period. Median age was 68, and 36% were males. During the SD intervention, 7 incidents of pneumonia hospitalisation were observed, compared to 31 during the control period (Fig. 1). The corresponding incidence rate ratio was 0.24 (95% confidence interval: 0.17 to 0.33, p < 0.001). 6/642 (0.9%) patients died during the SD period compared to 8/672 (1.2%) during control period (p = 0.9).Conclusion: The social distancing intervention was associated with a substantially lower incidence of pneumonia-hospitalizations among patients with bronchiectasis. Hygienic measures as used during SD are important in preventing serious life-threatening infections like pneumonias that require hospitalisation.Fig. 1: Incidence of pneumonia hospitalisations.FootnotesCite this article as Eur Respir J 2022; 60: Suppl. 66, 4023.This article was presented at the 2022 ERS International Congress, in session “-”.This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).