Clinical characteristics and risk factors predictive of pulmonary embolism complicated in bronchiectasis patients: a retrospective study

Objective Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a rare complication in bronchiectasis (BE) patients associated with a high rate of mortality and morbidity. However, data regarding bronchiectasis patients complicated with PE are limited. Early diagnosis of PE in bronchiectasis patients can improve the prognosis, this study aimed to investigate the clinical features and potential risk factors for early diagnosis of PE in bronchiectasis patients. Methods Data of Patients were collected from Tongji Hospital of Tongji University of China. Bronchiectasis patients complicated with pulmonary embolism were named as BE/PE group (n = 63), as well as contemporaneous aged- and sex-matched bronchiectasis patients without pulmonary embolism named as BE group (n = 189), at a ratio of 1:3(cases to controls). Clinical parameters and risk factors were analyzed. Results Univariate analysis shows that long-term bed rest, chronic lung disease, autoimmune disease, peripheral artery disease (PAD), tuberculosis history, dyspnea, blood homocysteine, CD4/CD8 ratio, or SIQIIITIII syndrome were closely correlated with the incidence of PE in the bronchiectasis patients (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis of significant variables showed that CD4/CD8 ratio (OR 1.409, 95% CI 1.045-1.901) and autoimmune disease (OR 0.264, 95% CI 0.133-0.524) are independent risk factors for BE/PE patients, compared with the BE patients. 53 out of 189 (28.0%) BE patients had hemoptysis, and 15 out of 63 (23.8%) BE/PE patients had hemoptysis (p > 0.05). Conclusions The coexistence of pulmonary embolism and bronchiectasis are rarely encountered and easily to be ignored. Early identification of the clinical characteristic and potential risk factors of pulmonary embolism in bronchiectasis patients may help optimize the treatment strategies.