Patient demographics in the control arm for prednisolone-treated patients at the stable state and FDP/d-dimer at the AE diagnosis
| Parameters | Prednisolone before AE | FDP/d-dimer at the AE diagnosis | ||||
| No | Yes | P value | Lower | Higher | P value | |
| Number of cases | 29 | 17 | 32 | 14 | ||
| Stable state | ||||||
| Sex, male/female | 25/4 | 12/5 | 0.258 | 27/5 | 10/4 | 0.423 |
| Smoking, y/n | 26/3 | 11/6 | 0.058 | 27/5 | 10/4 | 0.423 |
| Diagnosis, IPF/non-IPF | 12/17 | 10/7 | 0.361 | 17/15 | 5/9 | 0.346 |
| Honeycomb on HRCT, y/n | 13/16 | 11/6 | 0.233 | 18/14 | 6/8 | 0.525 |
| mMRC, ≤1/≥2 | 16/13 | 3/14 | 0.016 | 12/20 | 7/7 | 0.522 |
| Disease severity, IV/I-III | 3/26 | 9/8 | 0.004 | 9/23 | 3/11 | 0.729 |
| LTOT, y/n | 6/23 | 10/7 | 0.012 | 9/23 | 7/7 | 0.189 |
| Prednisolone before AE, y/n | 0/29 | 17/0 | <0.001 | 11/21 | 6/8 | 0.742 |
| At the onset of AE | ||||||
| HRCT pattern, diffuse/non-diffuse | 11/18 | 9/8 | 0.369 | 11/21 | 9/5 | 0.105 |
| PaO2/FiO2 ratio, ≤200/>200 | 13/16 | 13/14 | 0.064 | 14/18 | 12/2 | 0.011 |
| FDP/d-dimer, lower/higher | 21/8 | 11/6 | 0.742 | 32/0 | 0/14 | <0.001 |
AE, acute exacerbation; FDP, fibrin degradation product; FiO2, fraction of inspired oxygen; HRCT, high-resolution CT; IPF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; LTOT, long-term oxygen therapy; mMRC, modified Medical Research Council scores; PaO2, partial pressure of oxygen; y/n, yes/no.