Lough Graham, Abdulqawi Rayid, Amanda Gina, Antoniou Katerina, Azuma Arata, Baldi Milind, Bayoumy Ahmed, Behr Jürgen, Bendstrup Elisabeth, Bouros Demosthenes, Brown Kevin, Chaudhuri Nazia, Corte Tamera J, Cottin Vincent, Crestani Bruno, Flaherty Kevin R, Glaspole Ian, Kawano-Dourado Leticia, Keane Michael P, Kolb Martin, Martinez Fernando J, Molina-Molina Maria, Ojanguren Iñigo, Pearmain Laurence, Raghu Ganesh, Rottoli Paola, Stanel Stefan C, Tabaj Gabriela, Vancheri Carlo, Varela Brenda, Wang Bonnie, Wells Athol, Rivera-Ortega Pilar
Respiratory Effectiveness Group, Ely, UK.
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
ERJ Open Res. 2025 Mar 3;11(2). doi: 10.1183/23120541.00899-2024. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Suspected interstitial lung disease (ILD) patients may be referred to an ILD-specialist centre or a non-ILD-specialist centre for diagnosis and treatment. Early referral and management of patients at ILD-specialist centres has been shown to improve survival and reduce hospitalisations. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the ILD patient diagnostic pathway and prompted centres to adapt. This study investigates and contrasts ILD patient pathways in ILD-specialist and non-ILD-specialist centres, focusing on referrals, caseloads, diagnostic tools, multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting practices and resource accessibility.
Conducted as a cross-sectional study, a global self-selecting survey ran from September 2022 to January 2023. Participants included ILD specialists and healthcare professionals (HCPs) from ILD-specialist centres and non-ILD-specialist centres.
Of 363 unique respondents from 64 countries, 259 were from ILD-specialist centres and 104 from non-ILD-specialist centres. ILD centres had better resource availability, exhibiting higher utilisation of diagnostic tests (median: 12 tests) than non-ILD centres (nine tests) and better access to specialist professions attending MDT meetings (median: six professions at meeting) in specialist centres than non-ILD centres (three professions at meeting). Transitioning to virtual MDT meetings allowed HCPs from other locations to join meetings in nearly 90% of all centres, increasing regular participation in 60% of specialist centres and 72% of non-ILD centres. For treatment of patients, specialist centres had better access to antifibrotic drugs (91%) compared to non-ILD centres (60%).
Diagnostic pathways for ILD patients diverged between specialist centres and non-ILD centres. Disparities in resource and specialist availability existed between centres.
疑似间质性肺疾病（ILD）患者可能会被转诊至ILD专科中心或非ILD专科中心进行诊断和治疗。研究表明，在ILD专科中心对患者进行早期转诊和管理可提高生存率并减少住院次数。2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行影响了ILD患者的诊断途径，并促使各中心做出调整。本研究调查并对比了ILD专科中心和非ILD专科中心的ILD患者诊疗途径，重点关注转诊、病例数量、诊断工具、多学科团队（MDT）会议实践及资源可及性。
作为一项横断面研究，于2022年9月至2023年1月开展了一项全球自我选择调查。参与者包括来自ILD专科中心和非ILD专科中心的ILD专家及医疗保健专业人员（HCP）。
来自64个国家的363名独立受访者中，259名来自ILD专科中心，104名来自非ILD专科中心。ILD中心的资源可用性更好，诊断测试的利用率更高（中位数：12项测试），高于非ILD中心（9项测试），且在专科中心参加MDT会议的专科职业人员可及性更好（会议中位数：6种职业），高于非ILD中心（会议3种职业）。向虚拟MDT会议的转变使其他地点的HCP能够在近90%的所有中心参加会议，在60%的专科中心和72%的非ILD中心增加了定期参与度。对于患者治疗，专科中心使用抗纤维化药物的可及性（91%）优于非ILD中心（60%）。
ILD患者的诊断途径在专科中心和非ILD中心之间存在差异。各中心在资源和专科人员可及性方面存在差距。
