Bronchitis natural history, complications and prognosis

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Seyedmahdi Pahlavani, M.D. [2]

Bronchitis Main page

Patient Information

Overview

Causes

Classification

Acute bronchitis
Chronic bronchitis

Differential Diagnosis

Overview

Acute bronchitis is usually a self limiting disease with excellent prognosis but chronic bronchitis is a long lasting disease with variable outcomes depending on the severity of airflow obstruction with multiple complications.

Natural History

Acute bronchitis is a self limiting lower respiratory tract infection usually presents with cough that lasts for up to 3 weeks[1][2].
Chronic bronchitis usually gradually gets worse over time and can lead to death. The rate at which it gets worse varies between individuals and depends on the level of airflow obstruction.

Prognosis

  • Acute bronchitis has very excellent prognosis[3].
  • Chronic bronchitis however is dependent on early recognition and smoking cessation which improves the outcome significantly.

Complications

  • The most common complication of acute Bronchitis is persistent cough that my last for 6 weeks[3].Rarely, in patients with immunosuppression or other debilitating disease, Pneumonia occurs as a complication[4].
  • Recurrent pneumonia is a common complication of chronic bronchitis. Cor pulmonale is right-sided heart failure secondary to longstanding COPD. It is caused by chronic hypoxia and subsequent vasoconstriction in pulmonary vasculature that causes pulmonary hypertension and right-sided heart failure. Depression is a common consequence of chronic bronchitis[5].

References

  1. Gonzales R, Sande MA (2000). "Uncomplicated acute bronchitis". Ann. Intern. Med. 133 (12): 981–91. PMID 11119400.
  2. Landau LI (2006). "Acute and chronic cough". Paediatr Respir Rev. 7 Suppl 1: S64–7. doi:10.1016/j.prrv.2006.04.172. PMID 16798599.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Wenzel RP, Fowler AA (2006). "Clinical practice. Acute bronchitis". N. Engl. J. Med. 355 (20): 2125–30. doi:10.1056/NEJMcp061493. PMID 17108344.
  4. Albert RH (2010). "Diagnosis and treatment of acute bronchitis". Am Fam Physician. 82 (11): 1345–50. PMID 21121518.
  5. Bach PB, Brown C, Gelfand SE, McCrory DC (2001). "Management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a summary and appraisal of published evidence". Ann. Intern. Med. 134 (7): 600–20. PMID 11281745.


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