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. 2018 Feb 8;13(2):e0191938.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191938. eCollection 2018.

Spectrum of interstitial lung diseases at a tertiary center in a developing country: A study of 803 subjects

Sahajal Dhooria  1 , Ritesh Agarwal  1 , Inderpaul Singh Sehgal  1 , Kuruswamy Thurai Prasad  1 , Mandeep Garg  2 , Amanjit Bal  3 , Ashutosh Nath Aggarwal  1 , Digambar Behera  1
Affiliations

Spectrum of interstitial lung diseases at a tertiary center in a developing country: A study of 803 subjects

Sahajal Dhooria et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The spectrum of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) have mainly been reported from the developed countries; data from developing countries is sparse and conflicting. The aim of this study is to describe the distribution of various ILDs from a developing country.

Methods: This is an analysis of prospectively collected clinical, radiological and histological data of consecutive subjects (age >12 years) with ILDs from a single tertiary care medical center. The diagnosis of the specific subtype of ILD was made according to standard criteria for various ILDs.

Results: A total of 803 subjects (mean age, 50.6 years; 50.2% women) were enrolled between March 2015 to February 2017 of which 566 (70.5%) were diagnosed during the study period (incident cases). Sarcoidosis (42.2%), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF, 21.2%), connective tissue disease (CTD)-related ILDs (12.7%), hypersensitivity pneumonitis (10.7%), and non-IPF idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (9.2%) were the most common ILDs. The spectrum of ILDs was not significantly different (p = 0.87) between incident and prevalent cases. A histopathological specimen was obtained in 49.9% of the subjects yielding a histologically confirmed diagnosis in 40.6%. A diagnostic procedure was not performed in 402 subjects; the most common reasons were presence of definite usual interstitial pneumonia pattern on high resolution computed tomography and patients' unwillingness to undergo the procedure.

Conclusion: Sarcoidosis, IPF and CTD-ILDs were the most common ILDs seen at a tertiary center in northern India similar to the spectrum reported from developed countries. More studies are required from developing countries to ascertain the spectrum of ILDs in different geographic locales.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Comparison of spectrum of interstitial lung diseases in this study and a recently reported multicenter study from India.
[15] The numbers represent percentage of subjects diagnosed with the condition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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