PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Luis Carreto
AU  - Meghan Morrison
AU  - Jackie Donovan
AU  - Simon Finch
AU  - Gan Liang Tan
AU  - Tom Fardon
AU  - Robert Wilson
AU  - Elisabeth Furrie
AU  - Michael Loebinger
AU  - James D Chalmers
TI  - Utility of routine screening for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency in patients with bronchiectasis
AID  - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2019-214195
DP  - 2020 Jul 01
TA  - Thorax
PG  - 592--593
VI  - 75
IP  - 7
4099  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/75/7/592.short
4100  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/75/7/592.full
SO  - Thorax2020 Jul 01; 75
AB  - Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is a cause of bronchiectasis. Guidelines for bronchiectasis from the British Thoracic Society do not recommend to routinely test patients for AATD. In contrast, guidelines for AATD recommend routine screening. This contradiction, in part, results from the lack of data from large studies performing comprehensive screening. We screened 1600 patients with bronchiectasis at two centres in the UK from 2012 to 2016. In total, only eight individuals with AATD were identified representing 0.5% of the overall population. We conclude that routine screening for AATD in bronchiectasis in the UK has a low rate of detection. Further studies are required in different geographical regions, which may have a higher prevalence of AATD.