Fiducia TogetherBronchiectasis
Airways permanently widened and scarred, so mucus pools and infects. Often mistaken for asthma for years.
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.
What it is
Bronchiectasis is permanent widening and scarring of the airways, usually after damage from severe infection, cystic fibrosis, immune deficiency or aspiration.
Damaged airways cannot clear mucus. Mucus pools, bacteria colonise it, infection causes more damage, and the cycle continues.
It affects around 1 in 200 adults in the UK, and prevalence rises steeply with age. A great many people are treated for asthma or COPD for years before a CT scan finds it.
Signs you might notice
A daily cough producing sputum, most days, for months or years. That is the feature that separates it from asthma.
Sputum that is thick, and often green or yellow even between infections.
Repeated chest infections, several a year, each taking longer to clear.
Breathlessness, fatigue, and sometimes coughing blood.
Clubbing of the fingertips in longstanding disease.
How it can affect day-to-day life
Airway clearance is the treatment, and it is a daily physical routine rather than a tablet. Skipping it for a fortnight causes an exacerbation.
Sputum is socially difficult. People stop going out because of coughing in public.
The great avoidable harm is delay: years on inhalers for the wrong condition while damage accumulates. Anybody with a chronic productive cough deserves a CT.
Supporting someone well
Do the airway clearance daily and properly. Ask a respiratory physiotherapist to teach the technique rather than reading about it; the active cycle of breathing technique is learned, not intuited.
Get sputum sent for culture when infections happen, so treatment matches the organism. Pseudomonas in particular changes management.
Have a rescue antibiotic plan and start it early in an exacerbation.
Stay active. Exercise assists clearance and improves function.
Get vaccinated: flu, COVID and pneumococcal.
Ask about pulmonary rehabilitation, which helps here as much as in COPD.
Where to get help
Ask a GP for a respiratory referral and a CT chest if there is a chronic productive cough.
Asthma + Lung UK helpline: 0300 222 5800.
Coughing significant blood needs urgent assessment.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.