Do Mucoactive Agents Change Outcomes for Patients with Bronchiectasis?

Improving airway mucous clearance is a goal for patients with bronchiectasis. Although current guidelines recommend use of mucoactive agents as part of a management plan, few have been thoroughly tested for efficacy.

In this U.K. study, 288 adults with non–cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis who had daily sputum production and ≥2 pulmonary exacerbations (postpandemic, ≥1 exacerbation) in the previous year were randomized to receive hypertonic saline nebulizer treatments as an expectorant, oral carbocisteine (a non–U.S. FDA-approved medication) to regulate mucous secretion, both treatments, or neither. The primary outcome was the number of exacerbations during 1 year.