Data of the hospital treatment periods of the patients with acute exacerbation (AE) of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (FILD)
| Variable | Total no of patients (n=128) Hospitalisations (n=142) | IPF (n=79) Hospitalisations (n=84) | Other FILD (n=49) Hospitalisations (n=58) | P value |
| LTOT preceding hospitalisation | 27 (19) | 16 (19) | 11 (19) | 0.990 |
| Length of hospital treatment, days | 9 (6‒14) | 8 (5‒14) | 11 (7‒15) | 0.197 |
| Admission in winter or spring* | 81 (57) | 49 (58) | 32 (55) | 0.708 |
| Treatment unit in hospital | ||||
| Respiratory ward | 137 (97) | 79 (94) | 58 (100) | 0.079 |
| Respiratory ward only† | 79 (56) | 43 (51) | 36 (62) | 0.200 |
| Intermediate care unit | 61 (43) | 41 (49) | 20 (35) | 0.090 |
| Intensive care unit | 24 (17) | 16 (19) | 8 (14) | 0.411 |
| Invasive mechanical ventilation | 16 (11) | 14 (17) | 2 (3.4) | 0.014 |
| Trigger for AE-FILD | ||||
| No trigger | 122 (86) | 75 (89) | 47 (81) | 0.165 |
| Infection‡ | 15 (11) | 7 (8.3) | 8 (14) | 0.298 |
| Drug | 4 (2.8) | 2 (2.4) | 2 (3.4) | 1.000 |
| Postoperative§ | 1 (0.7) | 0 (0) | 1 (1.7) | 0.408 |
| Histological confirmation of AE-FILD¶ | 23 (16) | 15 (18) | 8 (14) | 0.518 |
Data are presented as numbers of patients (%) and median (IQR).
Each hospital admission is treated as unique event.
*Hospital admissions between December and May.
†Patients treated in respiratory ward throughout the whole treatment period (no transfers to intensive or intermediate care unit).
‡Microbiologically or serologically confirmed respiratory infection.
§The patient had undergone minor surgery under larynx mask anaesthesia preceding the treatment period.
¶Diffuse alveolar damage could be observed either in autopsy (15 IPF, 7 other FILD) or in thoracoscopic surgical lung biopsy (1 other FILD) samples.
LTOT, long-term oxygen treatment.