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. 2024 Sep 30;10(5):01032-2023.
doi: 10.1183/23120541.01032-2023. eCollection 2024 Sep.

The impact of cardiovascular events in bronchiectasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Andrea Gramegna  1   2 , Ivan Barone  1   2 , Gianfranco Alicandro  1   3 , Giovanni Sotgiu  4 , Angela Bellofiore  5 , Crizia Colombo  6 , Antonella Arcadu  2 , Margherita Ori  2 , Federico Blasi  7   8 , Edoardo Simonetta  9 , Marco Vicenzi  6   10 , Stefano Aliberti  9   11 , Francesco Blasi  1   2
Affiliations

The impact of cardiovascular events in bronchiectasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Andrea Gramegna et al. ERJ Open Res. .

Abstract

Background: Bronchiectasis is a chronic respiratory condition characterised by airway and systemic inflammation with prevalence increasing with age. Given the median age of the patients, it is common to observe the presence of comorbidities, particularly cardiovascular diseases, which have been linked to adverse clinical outcomes. To investigate the pooled estimates of the association between bronchiectasis and coronary heart disease or stroke within this population, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the available scientific evidence.

Methods: Three investigators independently performed the search on PubMed and other sources and included studies published up to October 2023 according to predefined criteria. Relative measures of association between bronchiectasis and cardiovascular events were pooled and meta-analysed using a fixed-effects model. Studies were evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for assessing the quality of non-randomised studies in meta-analyses.

Results: A final pool of nine studies was included in the systematic review, with a total of 22 239 patients. Meta-analysis of three high-quality cohort studies showed a pooled hazard ratio of 1.42 (95% CI 1.30-1.57) for coronary heart disease and 1.71 (95% CI 1.55-1.89) for cerebrovascular stroke.

Conclusions: The increased cardiovascular risk among people with bronchiectasis underscores the critical need to raise awareness of this association and to develop preventive strategies accordingly. Further translational studies are imperative to gain a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between inflammation, the immune system and endothelial dysfunction in this patient group.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: All authors have nothing to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow chart of study selection. CV: cardiovascular.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Pooled estimate of excess risk for coronary heart disease or stroke in patients with bronchiectasis (BE) and a quality assessment of the studies. The quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, with a maximum of four stars for group selection, two stars for group comparability and three stars for outcome ascertainment. HR: hazard ratio; CI: confidence interval.
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