Agreement between chronic bronchitis definitions in young adult smokers: BEACON Cohort

<bold>BACKGROUND:</bold> Chronic bronchitis is a marker of COPD development and a potential therapeutic target in early-stage disease. Multiple questionnaires are used to detect chronic bronchitis. We assessed inter-questionnaire agreeability to determine if they identify the same/different young adult smokers. <bold>METHODS:</bold> The British Early COPD Network (BEACON) enrolled 30-45 year-old smokers with ≥10 pack year smoking history and FEV1 percent predicted (FEV1%)≥80%. At enrolment in BEACON, we identified chronic bronchitis using clinical, COPD Assessment Test (CAT), Medical Research Council Chronic Bronchitis Questionnaire (MRCQ) and St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) definitions and assessed their agreeability. <bold>RESULTS:</bold> Among 404 BEACON participants (60% male; 82% Caucasian; median age 39.0 (IQR 35.3-42.1) years; median pack years 16 (IQR 12-21); median CAT score 10 (IQR 6-15); FEV1% 100% (IQR 93-109)), a total of 192 (47.5%) reported bronchitis by any of the four possible definitions: Clinical 24.8%, CAT 22.8%, MRCQ 28.5%, SGRQ 39.1%. Figure 1 shows 41 (21.3%) of cases were identified by only one definition, while the four questionnaires unanimously agreed in only 35 (18.2%) of cases. <bold>CONCLUSION:</bold> Chronic bronchitis is highly prevalent among young adult smokers, but different questionnaires identify different subject groups. Identifying which subgroups indicate disease development could guide therapies to prevent COPD. <fig><object-id>erj;66/suppl_69/OA6440/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>

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Published
2025-09-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.congress-2025.oa6440
Primary Topic
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
Type
article
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article

Agreement between chronic bronchitis definitions in young adult smokers: BEACON Cohort

Jadwiga A. Wedzicha, Robert Andrew Stockley, Mirco Govoni, Kristoffer Ostridge et al.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
article

Agreement between chronic bronchitis definitions in young adult smokers: BEACON Cohort

Jadwiga A. Wedzicha, Robert Andrew Stockley, Mirco Govoni, Kristoffer Ostridge, Luana Alves-Moreira, Hana Müllerová, Lorcan McGarvey, Julie Yates, Peter Calverley, Elizabeth Sapey, Andrew I. Ritchie, D.G. Downey, Augusta S. Beech, Sam Bartlett‐Pestell, James P. Allinson, Charlotte E. Bolton, Thomas S. Wilkinson, Lydia Finney, Apolline Marion, Federico Baraldi, Jørgen Vestbo, Gourab Choudhury, Aaron Braddy-Green, Mairi Macleod, Paul Jones, Chris Compton, Dave Singh, Jordina Mah
article en

Abstract

<bold>BACKGROUND:</bold> Chronic bronchitis is a marker of COPD development and a potential therapeutic target in early-stage disease. Multiple questionnaires are used to detect chronic bronchitis. We assessed inter-questionnaire agreeability to determine if they identify the same/different young adult smokers. <bold>METHODS:</bold> The British Early COPD Network (BEACON) enrolled 30-45 year-old smokers with ≥10 pack year smoking history and FEV1 percent predicted (FEV1%)≥80%. At enrolment in BEACON, we identified chronic bronchitis using clinical, COPD Assessment Test (CAT), Medical Research Council Chronic Bronchitis Questionnaire (MRCQ) and St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) definitions and assessed their agreeability. <bold>RESULTS:</bold> Among 404 BEACON participants (60% male; 82% Caucasian; median age 39.0 (IQR 35.3-42.1) years; median pack years 16 (IQR 12-21); median CAT score 10 (IQR 6-15); FEV1% 100% (IQR 93-109)), a total of 192 (47.5%) reported bronchitis by any of the four possible definitions: Clinical 24.8%, CAT 22.8%, MRCQ 28.5%, SGRQ 39.1%. Figure 1 shows 41 (21.3%) of cases were identified by only one definition, while the four questionnaires unanimously agreed in only 35 (18.2%) of cases. <bold>CONCLUSION:</bold> Chronic bronchitis is highly prevalent among young adult smokers, but different questionnaires identify different subject groups. Identifying which subgroups indicate disease development could guide therapies to prevent COPD. <fig><object-id>erj;66/suppl_69/OA6440/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>

AstraZeneca (United Kingdom) (GB), Queen's University Belfast (GB), University of Liverpool (GB), University of Ferrara (IT), Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (GB), University College Birmingham (GB), Lung Institute (US), Chiesi Foundation (IT), Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre (GB), GlaxoSmithKline (Germany) (DE), Centre for Inflammation Research (GB), The Queen's Medical Research Institute (GB), Swecare (SE), University of Southampton (GB), University of Birmingham (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 48%
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
DOISourceOpenAlex
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