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A randomised crossover trial of chest physiotherapy in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis

Depts of ¹ Respiratory Medicine, and ² Physiotherapy (Respiratory Medicine), Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

CORRESPONDENCE: M. P. Murray, Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 51 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh, EH16 4SA, UK. E-mail: maevemurray{at}hotmail.com

Keywords: Bronchiectasis, physiotherapy

Received: April 3, 2009
Accepted June 3, 2009

Regular chest physiotherapy is advocated in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis despite little evidence supporting its routine use. This study aimed to establish the efficacy of regular chest physiotherapy in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis compared with no regular chest physiotherapy.

20 patients not practising regular chest physiotherapy were enrolled in a randomised crossover trial of 3 months of twice daily chest physiotherapy using an oscillatory positive expiratory pressure device compared with 3 months of no chest physiotherapy. The primary end-point was the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ). Additional outcomes included 24-h sputum volume, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁₎, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory flow at 25–75% of FVC (FEF_25–75%), maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), maximum expiratory pressure (MEP), exercise capacity, sputum microbiology and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). The treatment effect was estimated using the differences of the pairs of observations from each patient.

There was a significant improvement in all domains and total LCQ score with regular chest physiotherapy (median (interquartile range) total score improvement 1.3 (-0.17–3.25) units; p = 0.002). 24-h sputum volume increased significantly with regular chest physiotherapy (2 (0–6) mL; p = 0.02), as did exercise capacity (40 (15–80) m; p = 0.001) and SGRQ total score (7.77 (-0.99–14.5) unit improvement; p = 0.004). No significant differences were seen in sputum bacteriology, FEV₁, FVC, FEF_25–75%, MIP or MEP.

Regular chest physiotherapy in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis has small, but significant benefits.