Do antifibrotics improve prognosis in non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis?

Antifibrotics improve the forced vital capacity (FVC) decline in progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (PF-ILD), according to results of a real-world study, however, no significant difference in mortality was found between patients with non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (non-IPF) with and without antifibrotics.

In this retrospective study, data from 574 patients with PF-ILD who had a relative FVC decline of either ≥10% or >5% to <10% with clinical deterioration or progression of fibrosis were compared.

Antifibrotics improved the FVC decline in patients with IPF (n = 64) and non-IPF (n = 103). Overall survival was longer in patients with IPF in the antifibrotic group, but not longer in patients with non-IPF

The authors concluded that further studies are needed to determine the benefit of antifibrotics in the prognosis of non-IPF.

Reference
Niitsu T, Fukushima K, Komukai S, et al. Real-world impact of antifibrotics on prognosis in patients with progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease. RMD Open. 2023;9(1):e002667. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002667. PMID: 36690385; PMCID: PMC9872509.