Underlying and immediate causes of death in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

BMC Pulmonary Medicine

Table 3 Causes of death according to smoking history

	Non-smokers (n = 45)	Ex-smokers (n = 66)	Current smoker (n = 17)	p-value^a
Total N of deaths (%)	43 (95.5)	55 (83.3)	15 (88.2)	0.153
Underlying cause of death
IPF	34 (79.1)	35 (63.6)	8 (53.3)	0.111
Pneumonia		2 (3.6)	1 (6.7)	0.315
Ischemic heart disease	6 (14.0)	6 (10.9)	3 (20.0)	0.646
Lung cancer		5 (9.1)	2 (13.3)	0.084
Pulmonary embolism	2 (4.7)			0.191
Colon cancer		2 (3.6)		0.342
COPD			1 (6.7)	0.133
Other^b	1 (2.3)	5 (9.1)
Immediate cause of death
IPF	27 (60.5)	21 (38.2)	6 (40.0)	0.076
Pneumonia	4 (9.3)	18 (32.7)	3 (20.0)	0.021
Ischemic heart disease	5 (11.6)	6 (10.9)	3 (20.0)	0.627
Heart failure^c	4 (9.3)	2 (3.6)	1 (6.7)	0.512
Lung cancer		4 (7.3)	1 (6.7)	0.200
Pulmonary embolism	2 (4.8)			0.191
Colon cancer		2 (3.6)		0.342
Other^d	1 (2.3)	3 (5.5)	1 (7.1)
Exacerbations preceding death
Acute exacerbation	5 (11.6)	6 (10.7)		0.370
Suspected acute exacerbation^e	11 (25.6)	16 (28.6)	4 (25.0)	0.929

p-values calculated using Fisher test
IPF idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;
^ap-value between different smoking histories
^bSick sinus syndrome (N = 1), cerebral infarction (N = 1), aortic rupture (N = 1), ileum strangulation (N = 1), heart failure (N = 1), drowning (N = 1)
^cFor any reason, including cor pulmonale
^dCerebral infarction (N = 1), aortic arteriosclerosis (N = 1), ileum strangulation (N = 1), hypotension (N = 1), respiratory failure due to COPD (N = 1), drowning (N = 1)
^eNo HRCT confirmation

ISSN: 1471-2466