Why carry out this study?

In patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), certain clinical characteristics, such as body mass index (BMI) and change in body weight, may be associated with prognosis.

Although the relationships between these characteristics and clinical outcomes in patients with IPF have recently been studied, there is a need for more research in large, well-characterized, real-world populations to help inform clinicians on management decisions for individual patients.

This analysis utilized data from an observational registry to examine the relationships between clinical outcomes and both BMI and annualized percent change in body weight in patients with IPF in a real-world setting.

What was learned from the study?

In this real-world population of patients with IPF, no association was found between mortality and BMI. However, an association was observed between weight loss and mortality over 24 months, whereby patients who experienced no annualized weight loss had lower all-cause mortality versus those who experienced more weight loss.

A lower BMI (< 25 kg/m2) was associated with a greater decline in lung function, as measured by forced vital capacity (FVC), versus a higher BMI (≥ 30 kg/m2), but no association was observed between percent predicted FVC and annualized weight loss.

Some clinical outcomes may be worse in patients with IPF who have a low BMI (< 25 kg/m2) or who experience weight loss over 24 months. The causation of these relationships is unknown.