Study on the relationship between radiological fibrosis score in high-resolution computed tomography and the survival in rheumatoid arthritis-related interstitial lung disease / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the fibrosis score (i.e., the combined extent of reticulation and honeycombing) is associated with worse survival. The aim of this study was to identify high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) patterns and patient characteristics that could predict poor prognosis in rheumatoid arthritis-related ILD (RA-ILD). Methods We retrospectively analyzed 130 patients with newly diagnosed RA-ILD from 2011 to 2017 at Shanxi People's Hospital. The Pearson correlation analysis was used for the correlation between the fibrosis score and the worse survival of RA-ILD, and Using Cox regression analysis was used to identify the associations with mortality. A value of P less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results During a median follow-up of 65 months, 32/130 (24.6％) patients died. Univariate analysis identified 6 significant poor prognostic factors lower baseline ％ predicted forced vital capacity [HR=0.97, 95％CI(0.94, 0.99);P=0.008], total interstitial disease score [HR=1.06, 95％CI(1.03, 1.08);P<0.01], reticulation score [HR=1.07, 95％CI (1.04, 1.09); P<0.01], traction bronchiectasis score [HR=2.04, 95％CI (1.21, 3.40);P=0.008], fibrosis score [HR=1.07, 95％CI (1.01, 1.13);P<0.01], and definite UIP pattern [HR=4.18, 95％CI (1.40, 12.51); P=0.010]. Fibrosis score remained to be an independent significant poor prognostic factor of survival on bivariate analysis [HR=8.136, 95％CI (2.87, 28.35); P=0.001]. Patients with a fibrosis score>20％ had high mortality. Conclusion This study has shown that fibrosis score is strongly associated with worse survival in RA-ILD, and patients with fibrosis score>20％ have a 8.136-fold increased risk of mortality.