[Real-life survival of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with anti-fibrotic medication]

Abstract

Introduction: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an irreversible fibrosing disease with median survival at diagnosis of 2-5 years. That said, pirfenidone and nintedanib slow down the gradual decline in respiratory function. Clinical trials have shown that while they are not curative, these drugs reduce mortality and increase survival time compared to placebo. This objective of this work was to compare the real-life survival of patients with IPF diagnosed at the Tours University Hospital depending on whether or not they took anti-fibrotic medication.

Methods: This is a monocentric retrospective study involving 176 patients diagnosed with IPF starting from 1997. Out of these 176 patients, 100 were treated with anti-fibrotic agents and 76 did not receive any anti-fibrotic treatment.

Results: Survival significantly increased in the group with anti-fibrotic medication, with median survival of 59 months [46-87] versus 39 months [29-65] (P=0.022). Predictive factors for death were neoplasia, IPF exacerbation and decreased DLCO.

Conclusion: Our study corroborates the beneficial result observed in clinical trials by showing longer survival in patients using anti-fibrotic agents.

Keywords: Anti-fibrotic medication; Fibrose pulmonaire idiopathique; Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; Nintedanib; Pirfenidone; Survie; Survival; Traitement anti-fibrosant.