The color of the phlegm from patients with the lung disease bronchiectasis can indicate the degree of inflammation in their lungs and predict their future outcomes, according to new research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy.
The study of nearly 20,000 patients from 31 countries is the first time that the color of phlegm has been shown to provide clinically relevant information that reflects prognoses and, therefore, can aid decisions about treatment.
Dr Megan Crichton, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Dundee, UK, who presented the research, said: "One of the main characteristics of bronchiectasis is a productive cough, with almost three quarters of bronchiectasis patients producing sputum daily.
Dr Critchton and her colleagues recorded the sputum color in 13,484 out of 19,324 patients who regularly coughed up sputum and who were enrolled in the pan-European bronchiectasis registry, EMBARC. They followed the patients for up to five years to look at the number of exacerbations they had, their severity and how many people died.
We found an increased risk of exacerbations, hospitalizations and death with more purulent sputum. For each 1-point increase in sputum purulence, there was a 12% increased risk of death." Related StoriesShe continued: "As this is a large study conducted across multiple countries and with five years of follow-up data, it provides the evidence that sputum color reflects prognosis.
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Color of phlegm can predict outcomes for patients with the lung disease, bronchiectasisThe color of the phlegm from patients with the lung disease bronchiectasis can indicate the degree of inflammation in their lungs and predict their future outcomes, according to new research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy.
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