Mortality Associated with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in Northeastern Italy, 2008–2020: A Multiple Cause of Death Analysis

Alessandro Marcon, Elena Schievano and Ugo Fedeli
Additional contact information
Alessandro Marcon: Unit of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy
Elena Schievano: Epidemiological Department, Azienda Zero Regione del Veneto, via Jacopo Avanzo 35, 35132 Padova, Italy
Ugo Fedeli: Epidemiological Department, Azienda Zero Regione del Veneto, via Jacopo Avanzo 35, 35132 Padova, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-10

Abstract: Mortality from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is increasing in most European countries, but there are no data for Italy. We analysed the registry data from a region in northeastern Italy to assess the trends in IPF-related mortality during 2008–2019, to compare results of underlying vs. multiple cause of death analyses, and to describe the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020. We identified IPF (ICD-10 code J84.1) among the causes of death registered in 557,932 certificates in the Veneto region. We assessed time trends in annual age-standardized mortality rates by gender and age (40–74, 75–84, and ?85 years). IPF was the underlying cause of 1310 deaths in the 2251 certificates mentioning IPF. For all age groups combined, the age-standardized mortality rate from IPF identified as the underlying cause of death was close to the European median (males and females: 3.1 and 1.3 per 100,000/year, respectively). During 2008–2019, mortality rates increased in men aged ?85 years (annual percent change of 6.5%, 95% CI: 2.0, 11.2%), but not among women or for the younger age groups. A 72% excess of IPF-related deaths was registered in March–April 2020 (mortality ratio 1.72, 95% CI: 1.29, 2.24). IPF mortality was increasing among older men in northeastern Italy. The burden of IPF was heavier than assessed by routine statistics, since less than two out of three IPF-related deaths were directly attributed to this condition. COVID-19 was accompanied by a remarkable increase in IPF-related mortality.

Keywords: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; mortality; time trends analysis; multiple cause of death; underlying cause of death; COVID-19; epidemiology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7249/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7249/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7249-:d:589625

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().