Quality of life of patients with bronchiectasis following outpatient treatment

Objective: To assess the quality of life of patients with bronchiectasis following outpatient treatment. Methods: Quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study of 31 patients diagnosed with bronchiectasis carried out in the Department of Respiratory Physical Therapy of the Santa Edwiges Teaching Clinic (Clínica-escola Santa Edwiges – APAE) and in the Outpatient Pulmonology Clinic of the Asthma Patient Care Program of the University Hospital (Programa de Assistência ao Paciente Asmático do Hospital Universitário – PAPA) in São Luís, Maranhão, from July to August 2015, using a socioeconomic and demographic questionnaire and the SF-36 questionnaire to assess quality of life. A descriptive analysis of the data was carried out in Epi Info, version 7.0 and the data are presented in tables using absolute (n) and relative (%) values, mean, median, minimum value, maximum value and standard deviation. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.96±15.52 years and there was a predominance of women (54.8%, n=17), pardos (58.0%, n=18), married individuals (35.4%, n=11) and complete elementary education (51.6%, n=16). Regarding quality of life, there was impairment of emotional aspects (16.1±30.9), physical aspects (19.3±30.7), general health status (35.8±19.5) and functional capacity (50.3±25.0), and vitality (55.0±27.4), social aspects (60.2±24.9), mental health (66.7±23.6) and pain (68.0±27.7) exhibited good results. Conclusion: The evaluation of the SF-36 indicated a decreased quality of life in patients with bronchiectasis in the following domains: emotional aspects, physical aspects, general health status and functional capacity.