237 Monitoring of interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid patients in routine clinical practice and therapies

Le résumé fourni par la source

Background: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a progressive fibrotic disease of the lung parenchyma. ILD is the only complication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) reported to be increasing. It accounts for 6% all RA deaths. The prognosis of patients with RA-ILD has been reported to be poor with a median survival of three years. The majority of patients will have a restrictive pattern on pulmonary function tests (PFTs). More than10% decline in FVC and >15% decline in DLCO has been correlated with disease progression and mortality. The predominant radiographic pattern is UIP. The key management decision is whether it is likely to respond to therapy or not. There are no guidelines for disease monitoring to determine improvement or progression. Management should also include supportive therapies (e.g. pulmonary rehabilitation, supplemental oxygen if indicated), symptom relief (e.g. cough, anxiety, depression, dyspnoea) and treatment of co-morbidities (e.g. anaemia, infections). The aim of this retrospective study was to examine whether regular monitoring and treatment for RA-ILD has been undertaken in routine clinical practice.

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