OBJECTIVE

The literature on interstitial lung diseases is limited. The aim of this research was to make this entity of diseases more understandable to clinicians and general population of the region of Pakistan.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study on 253 Pakistani subjects who are a part of the hospital-based registry of JPMC. We performed statistical analyses on SPSS version 22.0. We included patients above 15 years of age who exhibited clinical clues and radiological signs of ILD during March 2016 through February 2018 and excluded those who were on tuberculosis treatment, suspected to be suffering from post-infection bronchiectasis, expectant females or had failed to follow-up.

RESULTS

There was a 2:3 male to female ratio. Mean age was 49.0±13.2 years. Majority were non-smokers. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) was the commonest ILD (38.8%) followed by Non-Specific Interstitial Pneumonitis (NSIP) (15.1%). Most patients presented with dyspnea and dry cough and about half were clubbed (47.3%). Substantial IPF cases (52.6%) were suffering from GERD symptoms.

CONCLUSION

IPF and NSIP were the major ILDs, GERD was the only predictor of IPF. This entity of lung diseases needs to be explored further to identify patterns of presentation and to make diagnosis at a manageable stage.