BACKGROUND Improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQL) has been suggested as an alternative treatment goal of non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD). This study was performed to elucidate the longitudinal changes in HRQL using St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) among patients with NTM-PD according to their clinical course.

METHODS Patients with NTM-PD who participated in Seoul National University Hospital's prospective NTM cohort were screened. Participants for whom the SGRQ score was estimated with the one-year interval for ≥ three times were included. The longitudinal trends of the SGRQ score were assessed. The impact of the clinical course on the change in the SGRQ score was elucidated using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression with a repeated-measures model.

RESULTS In total, 114 patients were analyzed. During the median 5-year observation period, 53 patients started anti-mycobacterial treatment and 61 patients were observed without treatment. Among the treated patients, 24 (45.2%) achieved microbiological cure. Patients who required treatment eventually had worsening SGRQ scores with time compared with patients who could be observed without treatment (P < 0.001). In cured patients, the SGRQ score decreased from 33.9 at baseline to 20.8 at 1 year post-treatment (P < 0.001), 21.3 at 2 years (P < 0.001), and 17.6 at 3 years (P < 0.001). The SGRQ scores also decreased for 2 years of treatment in patients with NTM-PD that could not be cured, although this decrease did not last for 3 years of treatment.

CONCLUSION Worsening HRQL scores were associated with the initiation of treatment and, in turn, treatment improved HRQL scores of patients with NTM-PD.

TRIAL REGISTRATION This study was registered to the ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT01616745 / registration date: June 12, 2012). The protocol was retrospectively registered.