epidemiology

Last edited 04/2023 and last reviewed 11/2023

Most cases of bronchiectasis occur in childhood secondary to a lower respiratory tract infection. This has become less common with the aggressive treatment of respiratory infections with antibiotics.

Bronchiectasis may occur due to defects of mucociliary clearance, as in cystic fibrosis, Kartagener's syndrome and congenital immunodeficiency. These conditions have become more significant causes of bronchiectasis as childhood suppurative disease becomes rarer.

Worldwide prevalence of the disease is unknown (1).

In the UK (2,3):

• an estimated 211,598 people in the UK were living with bronchiectasis in 2012
  
• from 2008 to 2012 prevalence increased by 20%, with the number of people estimated to be living with bronchiectasis going up by approximately 40,000
• more common in females than males
• in 2012, 379 (370-387) females and 281 (273-289) males per 100,000 had bronchiectasis
• more women than men had the condition throughout the years 2004-2012; around 35% more women than men are diagnosed each year
• diagnosed in older adults
• approximately 60% of bronchiectasis diagnoses are made in people aged over 70
• in contrast to other lung diseases, figures for 2004-2012 show that the chances of being diagnosed with bronchiectasis are lowest in the most deprived sections of the population and increase with reducing deprivation (3)
• has been an increase in the rate of first diagnoses of bronchiectasis in primary care
• 33 (31-35) people per 100,000 were newly diagnosed in 2012, up from 20 (19-22) per 100,000 in 2004
• deaths related to bronchiectasis (3)
• in 2012, 1567 people in the UK were recorded as dying from bronchiectasis (0.3% of all deaths and 1.4% of deaths from lung disease), up from 1150 in 2008
• 123 were aged 15–64 and 1444 were aged 65 and above;
• no deaths from bronchiectasis were recorded in the age range > 28 days–14yrs
• in 2012, of the 1567 people who died from bronchiectasis, 661 were males and 906 were females
• there were higher mortality rates in the North East, the North West, the East Midlands, the West Midlands and the South East of England than in the UK generally
• doctor’s alertness for bronchiectasis and the availability of sensitive diagnostic tools (3) - high-resolution chest CT (HRCT) has identified that in up to 15-30% of patients diagnosed with bronchitis or COPD by GP’s show evidence of pathological changes seen in bronchiectasis (4).

Reference:

1. Barker AF. Bronchiectasis. N Engl J Med. 2002 May 2;346(18):1383-93. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra012519.
2. ten Hacken NH, van der Molen T. Bronchiectasis. BMJ. 2010 Jul 14;341:c2766. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c2766. PMID: 20630967.
3. Snell N et al. Epidemiology of bronchiectasis in the UK: Findings from the British lung foundation's‘Respiratory health of the nation’project. Respir Med. Oct-Nov 2019;158:21-23. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2019.09.012. Epub 2019 Sep 17.
4. Pasteur MC et al. British Thoracic Society guideline for non-CF bronchiectasis. Thorax. 2010;65 Suppl 1:i1-58