Characteristics of patients evaluated at the ambulatory care visit according to the presence of new-onset dyspnoea
| Available data | All (177) | Patients with new-onset dyspnoea (78) | Patients without new-onset dyspnoea (99) | p-value | |
| Time from hospital discharge to the outpatient clinic, days | 177 | 125 (107–144) | 118 (105–140) | 126 (108–146) | 0.28 |
| Assessment at the ambulatory care visit | |||||
| mMRC scale score for dyspnoea | 177 | <0.0001 | |||
| 87 (49.2%) | 22 (28.2%) | 65 (65.7%) | ||
| 76 (42.9%) | 48 (61.5%) | 28 (28.3%) | ||
| 14 (7.9%) | 8 (10.3%) | 6 (6.0%) | ||
| New-onset cough | 177 | 23 (13.0%) | 15 (19.2%) | 8 (8.1%) | 0.04 |
| 6-min walk distance, m | 161 | 462 (380–507) | 450 (377–495) | 474 (384–516) | 0.35 |
| Abnormal HRCT of the chest | 171 | 108 (63.2%) | 47 (61.0%) | 61 (64.9%) | 0.72 |
| Reticulations | 171 | 91 (53.2%) | 41 (53.2%) | 50 (53.2%) | 1 |
| Persistent ground-glass opacities | 171 | 72 (42.1%) | 36 (46.8%) | 36 (38.3%) | 0.30 |
| Fibrotic lesions | 171 | 33 (19.3%) | 18 (23.1%) | 15 (16.0%) | 0.28 |
| Pulmonary function tests | |||||
| FEV1, % pred | 157 | 90.8±17.8 | 87.8±16.5 | 93.3±18.5 | 0.06 |
| FEV1/VC, % pred | 157 | 82.1±7.4 | 82.3±6.9 | 82.0±7.9 | 0.77 |
| VC, % pred | 152 | 89.1±16.4 | 85.6±16.3 | 92.1±16.0 | 0.02 |
| TLC, % pred | 149 | 82.8±15.3 | 80.0±15.2 | 85.1±15.0 | 0.04 |
| DLCO, % pred | 152 | 86.7±22.7 | 85.6±23.7 | 87.7±22.1 | 0.57 |
| DLCO<70% | 152 | 33 (21.7%) | 17 (24.6%) | 16 (19.3%) | 0.55 |
| Nijmegen score>22 | 168 | 36 (21.4%) | 23 (29.5%) | 13 (14.1%) | 0.02 |
| LVEF≤50% on echocardiography | 83 | 10 (12.0%) | 6 (15.0%) | 4 (9.3%) | 0.50 |
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 new-onset dyspnoea.
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.