Demographic characteristics and clinical manifestations of the study population
| Patients | 97 |
| Age years | 68.23±9.05 |
| Males/females | 92/5 |
| Current/ex-/never-smokers | 17/73/7 |
| Smoking history pack-years | 52.16±34.30 |
| Disease duration years | 3.54±2.80 |
| SLB or VATS performed# | 26.82% |
| Finger clubbing | 63.91% |
| Dyspnoea score¶ 0/1/2/3/4/5 | 0/16/27/24/18/11 |
| Cough | 75.25% |
| Comorbidities | |
| Coronary heart disease | 14.43% |
| Hypertension | 58.76% |
| Diabetes mellitus | 20.61% |
| Therapy status | |
| Triple therapy+ | 13.40% |
Data are presented as mean±sd, unless otherwise stated. SLB: surgical lung biopsy; VATS: video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. #: usual interstitial pneumonia pattern; ¶: Medical Research Council scale; +: combination of N-acetylcysteine, steroids and azathioprine.