Open AccessBody habitus in patients with and without bronchiectasis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria
Author(s) -
M.D. Schweitzer,
Oriana Salamó,
Michael Campos,
Dean E. Schraufnagel,
Ruxana T. Sadikot,
Mehdi Mirsaeidi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0185095
Subject(s) - bronchiectasis , medicine , nontuberculous mycobacteria , tall stature , tuberculosis , lung , pathology , mycobacterium
Background Female gender, tall stature, presence of bronchiectasis are associated with pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections. The biologic relationship between the body habitus and NTM infection is not well defined and the body habitus profile of the patients with NTM and concurrent bronchiectasis is completely unknown. Methods We conducted a case control study at the Miami VA Healthcare System and the University of Illinois Medical Center on patients with pulmonary NTM infections between 2010 and 2015. We compared pulmonary NTM subjects with and without bronchiectasis. NTM infection was confirmed by using the American Thoracic Society/ Infectious Disease Society of America criteria. Standard radiological criteria were used to define bronchiectasis in chest CT-scan. Results Two hundred twenty subjects with pulmonary NTM were enrolled in the study. Sixty six subjects (30%) had bronchiectasis on CT scan of the chest. Subjects in the bronchiectasis group included more women ( p = 0.002) and were significantly older ( p = 0.005). Those patients who had bronchiectasis tended to have a significantly lower weight (less than 50kg) and height ≤155 cm ( p < 0.0001 and p = 0.018, respectively). Kaplan–Meier analysis confirmed that subjects who had bronchiectasis were shorter and weighed less, after adjusting for gender. Conclusions This study defines a new sub-phenotype of NTM subjects with bronchiectasis who tend to be short with lower body weight. Further studies are needed to better understand and define the body habitus profiles of this new sub-phenotype and their clinical implications.