BMC Pulmonary Medicine (Dec 2024)

Clinical features and risk factors of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in interstitial lung disease patients

  • Yin Liu,
  • Hanyi Jiang,
  • Tingting Zhao,
  • Min Cao,
  • Jian He,
  • Rongfeng Qi,
  • Yonglong Xiao,
  • Xin Su

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12890-024-03430-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Abstract Background The prevalence of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) among patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) is steadily increasing, leading to high mortality. The purpose of this study is to analyze the clinical features and risk factors of IPA in patients with ILD. Methods 353 hospitalized ILD patients admitted in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from March 2023 and April 2024 were enrolled. The enrolled patients were divided into the IPA group (proven and probable IPA) and non-IPA group, and the clinical characteristics and prognosis were compared between the two groups. Results Among 353 patients with ILD, 58 who suffered from IPA were identified. Among them, 2 (3.4%) episodes of proven IPA and 56 (96.6%) of probable IPA were diagnosed. The median age was 68.4 ± 8.6 years, and 35 patients were men. The forms of ILD included idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (n = 21), interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (n = 13), rheumatoid arthritis related interstitial pneumonia (n = 11) and Sjögren′s syndrome (n = 4). The clinical features of IPA in ILD were cough (100.0%), dyspnea (93.1%) and fever (55.2%). Chest CT images showed reticulation (87.9%), traction bronchiectasis (84.5%), GGO (77.6%), honeycombing (69.0%), consolidation (44.8%) and pleural effusion (24.1%). The incidence of honeycombing and consolidation were higher in ILD patients with IPA compared to control group (P < 0.05). The main pathogens were A. fumigatus (50.0%) and A. flavus (29.3%). Following the diagnosis of IPA, all patients were treated with antifungal drugs. The overall survival rate after 90 days was 74.1%. Multivariate conditional Logistic regression analysis showed that lymphopenia (OR = 2.745, 95% CI 1.344–5.607) and honeycombing (OR = 2.915, 95% CI 1.429–5.949) were the risk factors of ILD with IPA (P < 0.05). Conclusion IPA is one of the major complications of ILD and its prognosis is poor. Lymphopenia and honeycombing increased the risk of IPA in ILD patients.

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