Clinical profiles and lung function trajectories of IIM-ILD patients: A comparative study of pulmonology and rheumatology settings - PubMed
7 hours ago
- #IIM-ILD
- #clinical comparison
- #lung function
- The study compared IIM-ILD patients managed in pulmonology and rheumatology centers, finding differences in clinical profiles but similar lung function improvements and survival outcomes.
- Pulmonology patients were more likely male, had more fibrotic ILD, lower baseline DLCO, less cutaneous and musculoskeletal involvement, and used rituximab less compared to rheumatology patients.
- Despite baseline differences, both cohorts showed comparable significant improvements in FVC and DLCO% predicted over a mean follow-up of 2.5 years, with no significant difference in transplant-free survival.
- Factors associated with worse transplant-free survival included anti-MDA5 positivity, elevated CRP, and extensive lung fibrosis.
- The findings suggest that including patients from both specialties in clinical trials could enhance representativeness without compromising data consistency.