BronchUK: Protocol for an observational cohort study and biobank in bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis has been a largely overlooked disease area in respiratory medicine. This is reflected by a shortage of large-scale studies and lack of approved therapies, in turn leading to a variation of treatment across centres.BronchUK (Bronchiectasis observational cohort and biobank UK) is a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study working collaboratively with the European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration (EMBARC) project. The inclusion criterion for patients entering the study is a clinical history consistent with bronchiectasis and computed tomography (CT) demonstrating bronchiectasis. Main exclusion criteria are 1) patients unable to provide informed consent, 2) bronchiectasis due to known cystic fibrosis or where bronchiectasis is not the main or codominant respiratory disease, 3) age <18 years, and 4) prior lung transplantation for bronchiectasis. The study is aligned to standard UK NHS practice with an aim to recruit a minimum of 1,500 patients from across at least nine secondary care centres. Patient data collected at baseline includes demographics, aetiology testing, comorbidities, lung function, radiology, treatments, microbiology, and quality of life. Patients are followed up annually for a maximum of five years and, where able, blood and/or sputa samples are collected and stored in a central biobank.BronchUK aims to collect robust longitudinal data that can be used for analysis into current NHS practice and patient outcomes, and to become an integral resource to better inform future interventional studies in bronchiectasis.