Low physical activity may increase hospitalisation risk in bronchiectasis: Study

A recent study found that low levels of physical activity and high sedentary time increased the risk of hospitalisation due to bronchiectasis exacerbation. The study was published in the journal, European Respiratory Journal, 2020.

Patients with bronchiectasis usually have a relatively less active lifestyle, but the association of sedentary lifestyle with hospital admission has not been explored. 

Bronchiectasis patients have relatively less active lifestyle than their corresponding healthy peers. Researchers from Spain and 2 other nations conducted a study to investigate the association between physical activity variable and sedentary time, with hospitalisation in adults with bronchiectasis exacerbation.

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The prospective observational study recorded baseline lung function, quality of life, exercise tolerance, severity of bronchiectasis and physical activity in 64 bronchiectasis patients. A SenseWear armband was used to objectively assess the physical activity over a week. The results from the activity were expressed in steps per day and the amount of sedentary time. Number of hospitalisations due to a bronchiectasis exacerbation and time to first event were recorded after 1-year of follow-up.

The following are the observations from the study:

• Sixty-four patients with bronchiectasis were analysed, of whom 15 (23%) were hospitalised during the follow-up.
• Hospitalised patients showed poor baseline clinical and severity outcomes, fewer steps walked per day and more sedentary behaviour than the non-hospitalised group.
• Patients who walked ≤6290 steps·day–1 or spent ≥7.8 h·day–1 in sedentary behaviour had an increased risk of hospital admission due to bronchiectasis exacerbation at 1-year follow-up.
• Specifically, ≥7.8 h·day–1 of sedentary behaviour was associated with a 5.9-fold higher risk of hospital admission in the following year.

Thus, the authors concluded that low levels of physical activity and high sedentary time at baseline were associated with a higher risk of hospitalisation due to bronchiectasis exacerbation. They further added that, it might be appropriate to include physical activity and sedentary behaviour as an item in severity scores If these findings are validated in future studies.