{"id":944,"date":"2025-02-14T12:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/?page_id=944"},"modified":"2025-02-14T12:33:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:33:36","slug":"sputum-colour","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/research\/completed-projects\/sputum-colour\/","title":{"rendered":"Sputum Colour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p><strong>Aim of study:<\/strong>&nbsp;To determine whether sputum colour is useful in predicting the likelihood of growing bacteria (bugs) in sputum samples analysed in the microbiology laboratory when patients are stable, that is do not have a chest infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Conclusions:&nbsp;<\/strong>In patients with clear or grey sputum the chance of growing a bacteria is very small (about 5%) whereas if you cough up dark yellow, dark green or dark brown phlegm about 90% grew bacteria.&nbsp;The sputum colour is therefore astrong indicator of the likelihood of growing bugs in the sputum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Patient Implications:&nbsp;<\/strong>The sputum colour can be used as an indicator of the severity of&nbsp;your bronchiectasis and can help your doctors or nurses decide when you need antibiotics for a chest infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reference:&nbsp;<\/strong>European Respiratory Journal 2009;34(2):361-4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ce155fab wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/02\/mucoid-224x300-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/02\/mucoid-224x300-1.png\" alt=\"mucoid 224x300\" class=\"wp-image-945\" style=\"width:177px;height:auto\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/02\/Sputum-pot.wmf_.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"187\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/153\/2025\/02\/Sputum-pot.wmf_.gif\" alt=\"Sputum pot.wmf\" class=\"wp-image-946\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aim of study:&nbsp;To determine whether sputum colour is useful in predicting the likelihood of growing bacteria (bugs) in sputum samples analysed in the microbiology laboratory when patients are stable, that is do not have a chest infection. Key Conclusions:&nbsp;In patients with clear or grey sputum the chance of growing a bacteria is very small (about<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":933,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-944","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/blog\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"Aim of study:&nbsp;To determine whether sputum colour is useful in predicting the likelihood of growing bacteria (bugs) in sputum samples analysed in the microbiology laboratory when patients are stable, that is do not have a chest infection. Key Conclusions:&nbsp;In patients with clear or grey sputum the chance of growing a bacteria is very small (about","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/944\/revisions\/949"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/bronchiectasis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}