Relationship between survival and age in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: There is a debate that older patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have a worse prognosis. We evaluated whether age affects the survival of patients with IPF.

Methods: The Korean Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) Research Group conducted a national survey to evaluate the clinical, physiological, radiological, and survival characteristics of patients with IPF. A total of 1,663 patients with IPF were stratified into three groups according to age: (I) <60 years (n=309); (II) 60-69 years (n=613); and (III) ≥70 years (n=741).

Results: The 1-, 3- and 5-year observed survival rates were 83.0%, 62.6%, and 49.2% in the total population, respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year relative survival rates were 85.7%, 69.1%, and 58.0% in all patients, respectively. The observed survival rate of the group ≥70 years of age was significantly lower than those of the other groups (P<0.001). In contrast, no significant difference in relative survival rate was detected among the three age groups. Compared with patients less than 60 years of age, patients with above 70 years of age had not increased risk of worse relative survival [P=0.252; hazard ratio (HR), 1.11; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.76-1.64].

Conclusions: The prognosis of patients above 70 years of age with IPF was not different to that of patients less than 60 years of age, using relative survival rate. Age may not affect survival in patients with IPF.