Pulmonary fibrosis death risk identified

CINCINNATI, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have determined large numbers of certain cells in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients' lungs might increase their risk of death.

University of Cincinnati researchers found increased numbers of neutrophil cells -- a type of white blood cell -- in patients' lungs were associated with a 30 percent increased risk of mortality in the first year following diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

"A measure of cell types in the lungs of IPF patients at the time of diagnosis may allow us to determine their risk of death in the following year," said Dr. Brent Kinder, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. "This even takes into account other well-known measures of disease severity like age, whether or not the patient smokes and how well his or her lung functions during breathing tests."

Kinder co-wrote the study with Dr. Talmadge King Jr. of the University of California-San Diego; Drs. Kevin Brown and Marvin Schwarz from the National Jewish Medical Center, Dr. Joachim Ix from the University of California, San Diego and Alma Kervitsky of the NJMC.

The findings appear in the January issue of the journal Chest.