Characteristics of patients evaluated at the ambulatory care visit according to the presence of fibrotic lesions in lungs
| Available data | All (171) | Patients with fibrotic lesions (33) | Patients without fibrotic lesions (138) | p-value | ||
| Time from hospital discharge to the outpatient clinic, days | 171 | 122 (106–143) | 109 (94–125) | 127 (109–146) | 0.004 | |
| Assessment at the ambulatory care visit | ||||||
| New-onset dyspnoea | 171 | 76 (44.4%) | 18 (54.5%) | 58 (42.0%) | 0.28 | |
| mMRC scale score for dyspnoea | 171 | 0.65 | ||||
| 83 (48.5%) | 15 (45.5%) | 68 (49.3%) | |||
| 74 (43.3%) | 14 (42.4%) | 60 (43.5%) | |||
| 14 (8.2%) | 4 (12.1%) | 10 (7.2%) | |||
| New-onset cough | 171 | 22 (13.3%) | 5 (15.1%) | 17 (12.3%) | 0.77 | |
| 6-min walk distance, m | 155 | 459 (378–504) | 486 (401–510) | 454 (375–498) | 0.24 | |
| Abnormal HRCT of the chest | 171 | 108 (63.5%) | 33 (100%) | 75 (54.5%) | <0.001 | |
| Reticulations | 171 | 91 (53.5%) | 31 (93.9%) | 60 (43.5%) | <0.001 | |
| Persistent ground-glass opacities | 171 | 72 (42.1%) | 22 (66.6%) | 50 (36.2%) | 0.03 | |
| Pulmonary function tests | ||||||
| FEV1, % pred | 151 | 90.9±18.0 | 86.2±20.0 | 92.1±17.3 | 0.14 | |
| FEV1/VC, % | 151 | 82.0±7.5 | 82.3±6.3 | 82.0±7.8 | 0.82 | |
| VC, % pred | 146 | 89.2±16.3 | 80.6±20.0 | 91.5±14.4 | 0.007 | |
| TLC, % pred | 143 | 82.6±15.2 | 74.1±13.7 | 84.9±14.8 | <0.001 | |
| DLCO, % pred | 146 | 86.5±22.8 | 73.3±17.9 | 89.7±22.8 | <0.001 | |
| DLCO<70% | 146 | 32 (21.9%) | 12 (41.4%) | 20 (17.1%) | 0.01 | |
| Nijmegen score>22 | 162 | 35 (21.6%) | 2 (6.3%) | 33 (25.4%) | 0.03 | |
| LVEF≤50% on echocardiography | 80 | 10 (12.5%) | 5 (19.2%) | 5 (9.3%) | 0.28 | |
Values are expressed as the median (interquartile range), mean±sd, or number and frequency. The p-values refer to a comparison between patients with and without fibrotic lesions.
DLCO: diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in the first second of expiration; HRCT: high-resolution computed tomography; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction; mMRC: modified Medical Research Council; VC: vital capacity.