Alone, bronchiectasis and COPD can be difficult to diagnose and treat, but together they are much more difficult. Since bronchiectasis appears to be more common in patients with COPD, a group of researchers from Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital’s Tongji University School of Medicine were interested in studying how bronchiectasis could be predicted in patients with COPD.

They found that the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was most predictive of bronchiectasis, and that bronchiectasis was predictive of a worse outcome for COPD.