Prognosis of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia

Idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) is characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrosis of the lung. It carries a poor prognosis and the treatment for IIP has not yet been established. We evaluated 116 cases of IIP retrospectively, and analyzed possible prognostic factors, such as the mode of detection, clinical symptoms, chest X-ray findings, pulmonary function tests, blood chemistry, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and treatments. The 5-year survival rate from the onset was 39.5% and the 10-year survival rate was only 12.7%. The 5-year survival rate from the appearance of dyspnea on exertion was 23.2% and 10-year survival rate was 9.0%. According to the results of the Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients with low% FVC (< 70%), those with high values of ESR, those with high values of CRP, and those with advanced chest X-ray shadows did not survive as long as other patients. Multivariate analysis with a proportional hazards model revealed that a high percentage of eosinophils in BALF was associated with a poor prognosis. Analysis with a logistic model revealed that being male having a low %DLCO were associated with a poor prognosis.