International Journal of General Medicine (Dec 2022)

Analysis of Clinical Characteristics of Connective Tissue Disease-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease in 161 Patients: A Retrospective Study

  • Lu M,
  • Gong L,
  • Huang C,
  • Ye M,
  • Wang H,
  • Liu Y,
  • Liu D

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 8617 – 8625

Abstract

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Mingjie Lu,1,* Ling Gong,1,* Chengyan Huang,1 Meng Ye,2 Hongping Wang,3 Yi Liu,3 Daishun Liu3 1Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University (The First People’s Hospital of Zunyi), Zunyi, Guizhou, 563000, People’s Republic of China; 2Scientific Research Center, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University (The First People’s Hospital of Zunyi), Zunyi, Guizhou, 563000, People’s Republic of China; 3Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou, 563000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Daishun Liu, Zunyi Medical University, No. 6 Xuefu West Road, Xinpu New District, Zunyi, Guizhou, 563000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: This study was conducted to retrospectively analyze the clinical characteristics of CTD-ILD patients to provide strategies for clinical management.Methods: This study collected and analyzed the clinical data and relevant examination results of 161 patients diagnosed with CTD-ILD between 01 January 2018 and 01 January 2021.Results: A total of 161 CTD-ILD patients, 74.53% were females and 25.47% were males, 32.92% were elderly and 67.08% were non-elderly. The main clinical symptoms of CTD-ILD patients were cough (44.72%), decreased activity tolerance (40.37%). RA-ILD was the most common one in the non-elderly and the elderly CTD-ILD patients (48.15% and 50.94%, respectively). Compared with non-elderly, elderly patients with CTD-ILD had a longer duration of CTD (p=0.04). However, fatigue (p=0.005), activity tolerance (p=0.029), the incidence of pulmonary diffusion dysfunction (p=0.047), and systemic immunoinflammatory index (SII, p=0.014) (platelet × NLR) were all decreased. The standard deviation of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) (p=0.024) and immunoglobulin (IgA) (p=0.033) was significantly increased. The smoking index was significantly higher in men than in women with CTD-ILD (p=0.000), but symptoms of reduced activity tolerance were less pronounced than in women (p< 0.05). Elderly CTD-ILD patients (p=0.003) and women from non-elderly patients were prone to lower hemoglobin (p=0.000). Among the elderly, the lymphocyte ratio was more significantly elevated in female CTD-ILD patients than in males (p=0.018). In contrast, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and SII were lower in female (p=0.038) than in male CTD-ILD patients (p=0.043).Conclusion: CTD-ILD mainly affects non-elderly and women. Age may not be involved with decreased activity tolerance and increased lung function impairment in CTD-ILD patients. However, the elderly patients with CTD-ILD, especially the elderly female patients with low inflammation levels and high immune disorders, have a poor prognosis.Keywords: CTD-ILD, rheumatoid arthritis, pulmonary functions, clinical characteristics

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