Antibody deficiency isn't common causal factor after 40.

2003 JAN 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from Scotland, "Bronchiectasis is a common complication of primary antibody deficiency but the incidence of antibody deficiency as an underlying cause of bronchiectasis is largely undefined."

Pathologists at Grampian University Hospital, Aberdeen, studied "the humoral immune status of a cohort of bronchiectatic patients ... to detect the frequency of significant antibody deficiency and to determine the extent of immunological investigation which is appropriate for routine assessment of bronchiectasis patients."

"Fifty-six out-patients (with a mean age of 59.6 years) had serum immunoglobulins [Ig], IgG subclasses, and specific antibodies to capsular polysaccharides of Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae measured. Where specific antibody levels were low, where possible, appropriate immunization with pneumococcal or conjugated Haemophilus polysaccharide vaccines was offered and the responses quantified," wrote A. Stead and colleagues.

According to their report, "Three of 56 patients had low total serum IgG levels. Thirteen of 56 had deficiencies of either a single IgG subclass or combinations of two or more subclasses, with IgG4 being most frequently implicated (9/56). Twenty-nine of ...