Relationship between survival and age in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has an overall poor prognosis. The median survival time of patients with IPF was 2–3 years from the time of diagnosis, in several retrospective longitudinal studies (1-6). There are limited data on clinical factors associated with increased mortality (4). Poor prognostic baseline factors for survival of patients with IPF are the level of dyspnea, diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLco) <40% predicted, desaturation <88% during the 6-minute walk test, extent of honeycombing on high-resolution computed tomography of the chest, and pulmonary hypertension (4). A simplified scoring system using age, respiratory hospitalization, percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC), and 24-week change in FVC was developed for determining prognosis and guiding clinical management (7). However, there is no generally accepted method of combining these predictors to determine an accurate prognosis. Whether older patients with IPF have a worse prognosis is controversial. Several studies (4-6,8-10) have suggested that old age may be associated with bad prognosis in IPF