Acute bronchitis and clinical outcome three years later: prospective cohort study

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Acute bronchitis is a common disorder1usually assumed to be caused by a viral infection2with no beneficial effect resulting from antibiotic treatment.3 We examined whether acute bronchitis in a healthy individual should be regarded as an isolated event or a predictor of chronic lung disorders that has not yet clearly manifested itself clinically—that is, as bronchial hyperresponsiveness, asthma, or chronic bronchitis. In a previous study on the aetiology of acute bronchitis among adults in Gardabaer (7800 inhabitants), a suburban town south of Reykjavik, all patients diagnosed with acute bronchitis were included.4 The definition of acute bronchitis in that study was: cough (with or without expectoration) and rhonchi or coarse rales on auscultation in patients without any known underlying lung disease (according to the patients' medical records) or clinical signs of pneumonia. That prospective …