Prognosis and Survival in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in the Era of Antifibrotic Therapy in Italy: Evidence from a Longitudinal Population Study Based on Healthcare Utilization Databases

Marica Iommi, Andrea Faragalli, Martina Bonifazi, Federico Mei, Lara Letizia Latini, Marco Pompili, Flavia Carle () and Rosaria Gesuita
Additional contact information
Marica Iommi: Center of Epidemiology Biostatistics and Medical Information Technology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Andrea Faragalli: Center of Epidemiology Biostatistics and Medical Information Technology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Martina Bonifazi: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Federico Mei: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Lara Letizia Latini: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Marco Pompili: Regional Health Agency of Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Flavia Carle: Center of Epidemiology Biostatistics and Medical Information Technology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Rosaria Gesuita: Center of Epidemiology Biostatistics and Medical Information Technology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-10

Abstract: The aim was to evaluate the determinants of acute exacerbation (AE) and death in new cases of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) using administrative databases in the Marche Region. Adults at their first prescription of antifibrotics or hospitalization with a diagnosis of IPF occurring in 2014–2019 were considered as new cases. Multiple Cox regression was used to estimate the risk of AE and of all-cause mortality adjusted by demographic and clinical characteristics, stratifying patients according to antifibrotic treatment. Overall, 676 new cases of IPF were identified and 276 deaths and 248 AE events occurred. In never-treated patients, the risk of AE was higher in patients with poor health conditions at diagnosis; the risk of death was higher in males, in patients aged ≥75 and in those with poor health conditions at baseline. The increasing number of AEs increased the risk of death in treated and never-treated patients. Within the limits of an observational study based on secondary data, the combined use of healthcare administrative databases allows the accurate analysis of progression and survival of IPF from the beginning of the antifibrotic therapy era, suggesting that timely and early diagnosis is critical to prescribing the most suitable treatment to increase survival and maintain a healthy life expectancy.

Keywords: secondary health databases; acute exacerbation; survival analysis; real-world evidence; idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16689/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16689/ (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:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16689-:d:1000991

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 ().