Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSelf-Checks/At-Home TestingLabs and TestsImagingDifferential DiagnosesFrequently Asked QuestionsNext in Bronchitis GuideHow Bronchitis Is Treated
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Self-Checks/At-Home Testing
Labs and Tests
Imaging
Differential Diagnoses
Frequently Asked Questions
Next in Bronchitis Guide
The diagnosis of acute or chronicbronchitisstarts with a medical history and physical examination. A chest X-ray orchest CT scancan provide helpful diagnostic information because these tests allow your healthcare provider to assess the appearance of your lungs. Blood tests and pulmonary functions tests may be helpful in determining whether you have bronchitis. These additional tests are most useful for ruling out other causes of yoursymptoms, including another lung disease, heart failure, or cancer.
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Usually, there are signs that indicate that you or your child has more than just a regular cold. It is important to familiarize yourself with the symptoms of bronchitis because you are the first person who will notice that you might have the condition. You should get medical attention if you have signs of acute or chronic bronchitis.
Acute Bronchitis
In addition to the signs that are common to both acute and chronic bronchitis, there are indications that are specific toacute bronchitis. If you or your child has a cold in which a cough is the most prominent symptom, or if the cold seems to be lingering for longer than usual, then this may be acute bronchitis.
Chronic Bronchitis
If you have a daily cough, lasting for at least three consecutive months, then you may be dealing with chronic bronchitis.Pay attention to whether you also experience fatigue and if you develop shortness of breath with physical activity because these are also signs of chronic bronchitis.
A number of labs and tests can support the diagnosis of bronchitis, although diagnostic tests alone are not enough to verify that you have bronchitis. These tests are used to determine thecause of bronchitisand to follow your progress if you have trouble breathing.
Sputum Culture
A sputum culture is used to confirm the presence of bacteria in your sputum, which indicates that you have a respiratory tract infection.
If you have acute bronchitis, a positive sputum culture suggests that an infection is the cause of your symptoms. If you have chronic bronchitis, you are more prone to frequent lung infections, so you can have a positive sputum culture (usually with worsening symptoms) from time to time.
Complete Blood Count
A complete blood count, or CBC, is a routine blood test that provides your healthcare provider with important information about the types and amounts of blood cells in your body. It can also help your healthcare provider determine if you have an infection, which is more likely with acute bronchitis, but can occur with chronic bronchitis as well.
Pulse Oximetry
A pulse oximeter is a small device that can estimate the oxygen saturation in your blood through your skin. This test can provide a reading within a few seconds, and it is done without any needles or injections.
Pulmonary Function Testing
Pulmonary function testing (PFT) usesspirometryto measure your airflow as you breathe. This test can determine the presence and degree of airflow obstruction. A spirometry test can be performed in your doctor’s office, in the hospital, or in a healthcare clinic. PFT is not performed for acute bronchitis.
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Imaging studies can be helpful for evaluating bronchitis because they allow a healthcare provider to see the changes that are happening in your lungs. Your healthcare provider can also assess whether the changes are occurring in the lungs, the bronchi, or in other areas of your respiratory tract.
Chest X-Ray
A chest X-ray is not a definitive tool for diagnosing acute or chronic bronchitis, but your X-ray may show signs of inflammation of the bronchi, which can help in the diagnosis of acute or chronic bronchitis. A chest X-ray may also detect signs of lung infections likepneumonia.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, can cause changes that may be visualized with a chest X-ray.
If you have symptoms of COPD, it’s likely your healthcare provider will order a chest X-ray to visualize your lungs.
Chest CT
A chest CT provides a visual assessment of the lungs that can help identify bronchitis and other conditions such as lung infections, pulmonary embolus, or lung cancer.
There are several conditions that may produce symptoms similar to those of bronchitis. Your diagnostic tests and medical history can help differentiate between bronchitis and the other conditions.
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is a lung infection, while bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi. The bronchi are the airways that lead to the lungs. Both of these illnesses can cause wheezing and fatigue, but acute bronchitis causes a more severe cough than pneumonia, and chronic bronchitis does not typically produce a fever, whereas pneumonia does.
The symptoms are often similar, and a chest X-ray can help your healthcare provider determine whether you havepneumonia or bronchitis.
Asthma
Asthma can cause bouts of severe breathing difficulties and wheezing, which are usually more acute and severe than the breathing difficulties and wheezing of either acute or chronic bronchitis.Asthma and chronic bronchitis are both recurrent, so your healthcare providers may need to differentiate these illnesses with a thorough medical history and chest imaging studies.
Allergic Reaction
An allergic reaction can cause a sudden episode of shortness of breath. This is typically more dramatic than the shortness of breath that you may experience with bronchitis. However, because the treatment of the conditions is so different, your healthcare providers may need to order allergy tests if your diagnosis is unclear.
Emphysema
Heart Failure
It is not uncommon to have heart failure and chronic bronchitis at the same time, so your medical team will work to determine whether you have one or both of these conditions.
Cancer
Cancer that involves the lungs can produce a range of symptoms, including a cough, wheezing, and shortness of breath. If your symptoms are suggestive of cancer, your healthcare provider is likely to order additional imaging tests and to consider a biopsy if there is an appearance of cancer on any of your imaging tests.
Symptoms that may point to bronchitis include:A frequent, hacking cough that may or may not be productive (bring up mucus) in the case of acute bronchitis, but always is productive in chronic bronchitisSputum that is yellow or clear (rather than greenish)WheezingA whistling sound when you breatheChills, fever, muscle aches, fatigue, runny nose, and other common symptoms of a viral infectionDyspnea (shortness of breath)Chest pain or tightnessThese symptoms of bronchitis tend to be less severe in the case of acute bronchitis; most will resolve within a few days or weeks without treatment, although the cough may linger for several weeks. Chronic bronchitis symptoms occur for several months at a time per year for at least two years in a row.
Symptoms that may point to bronchitis include:
These symptoms of bronchitis tend to be less severe in the case of acute bronchitis; most will resolve within a few days or weeks without treatment, although the cough may linger for several weeks. Chronic bronchitis symptoms occur for several months at a time per year for at least two years in a row.
X-raysare not especially helpful for diagnosing bronchitis but can identify or rule out other conditions, such as pneumonia. An X-ray may show thickening of the walls of thebronchi(airways) but this is not a definitive sign of bronchitis.
How Bronchitis Is Treated
11 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Acute bronchitis.MedlinePlus.Chronic bronchitis.MedlinePlus.Sputum culture.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Bronchitis.Evertsen J, Baumgardner DJ, Regnery A, Banerjee I.Diagnosis and management of pneumonia and bronchitis in outpatient primary care practices.Prim Care Respir J. 2010;19(3):237-41. doi:10.4104/pcrj.2010.00024Di Filippo P, Scaparrotta A, Petrosino MI.An underestimated cause of chronic cough: the protracted bacterial bronchitis.Ann Thorac Med. 2018 Jan-Mar;13(1):7-13. doi:10.4103/atm.ATM_12_17Horodinschi RN, Bratu OG, Dediu GN, Pantea stoian A, Motofei I, Diaconu CC.Heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a review.Acta Cardiol. 2019;:1-8. doi:10.1080/00015385.2018.1559485National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Bronchitis.Merck Manual Consumer Version.Acute bronchitis.Smith SM, Fahey T, Smucny J, Becker LA.Antibiotics for acute bronchitis.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;6(6):CD000245. Published 2017 Jun 19. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000245.pub4Radiopaedia.Acute bronchitis.Additional ReadingYıldız T, Dülger S.Non-astmatic Eosinophilic Bronchitis. Turk Thorac J. 2018 Jan;19(1):41-45. doi:10.5152/TurkThoracJ.2017.17017
11 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Acute bronchitis.MedlinePlus.Chronic bronchitis.MedlinePlus.Sputum culture.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Bronchitis.Evertsen J, Baumgardner DJ, Regnery A, Banerjee I.Diagnosis and management of pneumonia and bronchitis in outpatient primary care practices.Prim Care Respir J. 2010;19(3):237-41. doi:10.4104/pcrj.2010.00024Di Filippo P, Scaparrotta A, Petrosino MI.An underestimated cause of chronic cough: the protracted bacterial bronchitis.Ann Thorac Med. 2018 Jan-Mar;13(1):7-13. doi:10.4103/atm.ATM_12_17Horodinschi RN, Bratu OG, Dediu GN, Pantea stoian A, Motofei I, Diaconu CC.Heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a review.Acta Cardiol. 2019;:1-8. doi:10.1080/00015385.2018.1559485National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Bronchitis.Merck Manual Consumer Version.Acute bronchitis.Smith SM, Fahey T, Smucny J, Becker LA.Antibiotics for acute bronchitis.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;6(6):CD000245. Published 2017 Jun 19. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000245.pub4Radiopaedia.Acute bronchitis.Additional ReadingYıldız T, Dülger S.Non-astmatic Eosinophilic Bronchitis. Turk Thorac J. 2018 Jan;19(1):41-45. doi:10.5152/TurkThoracJ.2017.17017
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
MedlinePlus.Acute bronchitis.MedlinePlus.Chronic bronchitis.MedlinePlus.Sputum culture.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Bronchitis.Evertsen J, Baumgardner DJ, Regnery A, Banerjee I.Diagnosis and management of pneumonia and bronchitis in outpatient primary care practices.Prim Care Respir J. 2010;19(3):237-41. doi:10.4104/pcrj.2010.00024Di Filippo P, Scaparrotta A, Petrosino MI.An underestimated cause of chronic cough: the protracted bacterial bronchitis.Ann Thorac Med. 2018 Jan-Mar;13(1):7-13. doi:10.4103/atm.ATM_12_17Horodinschi RN, Bratu OG, Dediu GN, Pantea stoian A, Motofei I, Diaconu CC.Heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a review.Acta Cardiol. 2019;:1-8. doi:10.1080/00015385.2018.1559485National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Bronchitis.Merck Manual Consumer Version.Acute bronchitis.Smith SM, Fahey T, Smucny J, Becker LA.Antibiotics for acute bronchitis.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;6(6):CD000245. Published 2017 Jun 19. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000245.pub4Radiopaedia.Acute bronchitis.
MedlinePlus.Acute bronchitis.
MedlinePlus.Chronic bronchitis.
MedlinePlus.Sputum culture.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Bronchitis.
Evertsen J, Baumgardner DJ, Regnery A, Banerjee I.Diagnosis and management of pneumonia and bronchitis in outpatient primary care practices.Prim Care Respir J. 2010;19(3):237-41. doi:10.4104/pcrj.2010.00024
Di Filippo P, Scaparrotta A, Petrosino MI.An underestimated cause of chronic cough: the protracted bacterial bronchitis.Ann Thorac Med. 2018 Jan-Mar;13(1):7-13. doi:10.4103/atm.ATM_12_17
Horodinschi RN, Bratu OG, Dediu GN, Pantea stoian A, Motofei I, Diaconu CC.Heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a review.Acta Cardiol. 2019;:1-8. doi:10.1080/00015385.2018.1559485
Merck Manual Consumer Version.Acute bronchitis.
Smith SM, Fahey T, Smucny J, Becker LA.Antibiotics for acute bronchitis.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;6(6):CD000245. Published 2017 Jun 19. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000245.pub4
Radiopaedia.Acute bronchitis.
Yıldız T, Dülger S.Non-astmatic Eosinophilic Bronchitis. Turk Thorac J. 2018 Jan;19(1):41-45. doi:10.5152/TurkThoracJ.2017.17017
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