To better understand the relative effects of infection with nontuberculous mycobacteria and Gram negative bacteria on lung function decline in cystic fibrosis, we assessed the impact of each infection in a Danish setting.
Longitudinal registry study of 432 patients with cystic fibrosis contributing 53,771 lung function measures between 1974 and 2014. We used a mixed effects model with longitudinally structured correlation, while adjusting for clinically important covariates.
Infections with a significant impact on rate of decline in %FEV1 were Mycobacterium abscessus complex with − 2.22% points per year (95% CI − 3.21 to − 1.23), Burkholderia cepacia complex − 1.95% (95% CI − 2.51 to − 1.39), Achromobacter xylosoxidans − 1.55% (95% CI − 2.21 to − 0.90), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa − 0.95% (95% CI − 1.24 to − 0.66). Clearing M. abscessus complex was associated with a change to a slower decline, similar in magnitude to the pre-infection slope.