Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of corticosteroids upon idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and the impact of corticosteroids upon survival time.
Methods: Clinical data of 94 corticosteroid treatment and 32 non-corticosteroid treatment IPF patients during 2000 - 2004 were retrospectively analyzed and their survival rates compared between two groups. The corticosteroid treatment patients were divided into 3 groups: improved, steady and worsened group according to the pulmonary function data. Therapeutic effects and survival rates were compared between these 3 groups.
Results: In the treatment group, 6 (6.4%) patients could not be located, 22 (23.4%) patients survived, and 66 (70.2%) patients died. In the non-corticosteroid treatment group, 1 (3.1%) patients could not be located, 2 (6.3%) patients survived and 29 (90.6%) patients died. No statistically significant difference existed between the two groups (P > 0.05). Sixty-two corticosteroid treatment patients were followed up for 3-6 months. Among them, 19 (30.7%) patients improved, 11 (17.7%) patients remained steady and 32 (51.6%) patients worsened in pulmonary function. In 19 improved patients, 7 (36.8%) survived and 12 (63.2%) died. In 11 steady patients, 3 (27.2%) survived and 8 (72.7%) died. In 32 worsened patients, 3 (9.4%) could not be located, 1(3.1%) survived and 28 (87.5%) died. The survival rate of the improved and steady groups was higher than that of the worsened group (P < 0.01).
Conclusions: There is some therapeutic effect of corticosteroids in the early alveolitis stage of IPF. The prognosis of the patients with improved and steady pulmonary function parameters during the first 3 - 6 months is better than that of worsened patients.