Rise in lung condition cases surprises Irish specialists

A rise in the number of people diagnosed with bronchiectasis, a lung condition thought to be “a disease of the past”, has taken Irish specialists by surprise.

Research published today suggests the condition affects more than 1 per cent of older people in the UK, and Irish respiratory consultants say they are seeing similar increases here.

Bronchiectasis is a disease in which the airways into the lungs are damaged, leading to an inability to clear mucus and recurrent chest infections. The patients cough up mucus and blood, and develop shortness of breath and sometimes respiratory failure. It is often linked to untreated chest infections in earlier life. The number of people affected has doubled in a decade, according to the study by British scientists published in the European Respiratory Journal. Mortality rates are twice those in the general population.

Dr Séamus Linnane of the Blackrock Clinic said Irish respiratory physicians were seeing "a lot" of bronchiectasis, often in conjunction with other illnesses such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.We thought it was going to go away, given the wider use of antibiotics and greater spread of immunisation programmes but that doesn't seem to be the case," he said.

Irish rates for the disease were similar to those reported in the latest UK research, he said. The reasons for the increasing incidence of the condition weren’t clear, but could relate to better screening.

Dr Ed McKone, respiratory physician at St Vincent’s Hospital, said doctors were seeing more cases as people lived longer and screening methods improved. However, a lot of cases remained undiagnosed.

The UK research, which looked at 14 million patient records, found the condition was more prevalent in higher socio-economic groups, but Dr Linnane said rates in Ireland tended to be higher in poorer groups.

Bronchiectasis suffered from a lack of recognition compared to other respiratory ailments, he said, with no specific group advocating for affected patients.

Treatment involves training the patient in ways to clear mucus and the greater and, sometimes, preventive use of antibiotics to avert recurrent chest infections.