Table 1.
Patients’ characteristics (n=173)
| Total (n=173) | BAL group (n=39) | Non-BAL group (n=134) | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 82 (74–88) | 74 (69–78) | 84 (78–90) | <0.001 |
| Sex (male/female) | 121/52 | 28/11 | 93/41 | 0.9296 |
| UIP/Others | 135 (VATS diagnosed patients: 4)/38 | 24 (VATS diagnosed patients: 4)/15 | 111/23 | 0.0091 |
|
Smoking history Present/Absent |
107/66 | 21/18 | 86/48 | 0.1286 |
| Survivor/Non-survivor | 86/87 | 18/21a | 68/66b | 0.7468 |
|
FVC (mL)c %FVC (%)c |
2350 (1585–2890) 78.85 (62.6-93.4) |
2180 (1510–2640) 72.2 (61.1–84.8) |
2400 (1620–2960) 82.3 (65.3–95.6) |
0.1650 0.0468 |
| Serum Alb (g/mL)c | 3.9 (3.5–4.2) | 4.1 (3.7-4.2) | 3.8 (3.5–4.1) | 0.0304 |
| Serum KL-6 (U/mL)c | 733 (435–1168) | 1130 (544–1695) | 686 (421–927) | <0.001 |
| Serum SP-D (ng/mL)c | 154.5 (88.5–305.3) | 262.0 (165.0–357.5) | 137.0 (79.0–240.5) | <0.001 |
| Serum SP-A (ng/mL)c | 56.5 (38.3–82.5) | 71.4 (45.1–113.2) | 50.6 (36.1–73.5) | 0.0034 |
| Antifibrotic drugs Present/Absent | 43/173 | 14/39 | 29/134 | 0.2429 |
|
Progression Good/Poor/unknownd |
52/38/83 | 19/20/0 | 33/18/83 | <0.001 |
Data are expressed as medians (ranges)
Alb albumin, BAL bronchoalveolar lavage, FVC forced vital capacity, KL-6 Krebs von den Lungen-6, SP-A surfactant protein A, SP-D surfactant protein D, UIP usual interstitial pneumonia, VATS video-assisted thoracic surgery
aIncluding four cases of death from other diseases and five cases of acute exacerbation
bIncluding 33 cases of death from other diseases and 21 cases of acute exacerbation
cat the time of BAL of BAL group and at the initial visit of Non-BAL group
dIn the non-BAL group, 83 patients did not have pulmonary function tests performed after the initial visit, so progression could not be assessed