Aim The aim of this study was to assess the utility of a generic health status questionnaire, the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

Methods The NHP is a generic health status measure that contains 6 scales: energy (3 items), pain (8 items), emotional reactions (9 items), sleep (5 items), social isolation (5 items) and physical mobility (8 items). In addition the NHP also has a total score including 24 items called the NHP-D. High scores on the questionnaire indicate worse health status. Patients with an exacerbation of bronchiectasis requiring 2 weeks' intravenous antibiotic therapy completed the NHP at the start of the exacerbation and then 1 week following completion of treatment. In addition, they completed the Leicester Cough Questionnaire, a cough severity score, previously validated for use in bronchiectasis. The LCQ assesses three components: physical, psychological and social. The total score ranges from 3 to 21 with a lower score indicating a more severe cough. The change scores and effect size (ES) of the NHP and LCQ were measured. The ES is based on the ratio of difference between the mean measure at baseline and at follow-up (related to the SD for baseline scores) and the thresholds are: 0.2 for a small group change, 0.5 for a moderate group change, and 0.8 for a large group change.

Results 44 patients completed the study. Abstract P237 Table 1 shows the change in the components of the NHP and the LCQ at the start and end treatment of the exacerbation. The change score and effect size in the NHP included: Energy Level: −18.18 and −0.56; Pain Scale: −4.26 and −0.14; Emotional Reaction:−7.58 and −0.29; Sleep Scale:−18.2 and −0.56; Social Isolation: −5.45 and −0.21; Physical Mobility: −9.94 and −0.34; NHP-D: −2.27 and −0.43. The change score and effect size for the LCQ included: Physical: 1.28 and 1.32; Psychological: 1.61 and 1.11; Social: 1.62 and 1.09; Total: 4.51 and 1.25.

Conclusion The NHP was responsive to change in acute exacerbations of bronchiectasis but further validation studies are needed.