Interstitial Pneumonia with Autoimmune Features

Interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) is a chronic interstitial lung disease (ILD) with some laboratoristic and/or clinical features of autoimmune disease, but without meeting criteria of connective tissue disease (CTD), and with no other causes of ILD. Despite recent efforts to standardize the diagnosis of IPAF, subjects with IPAF represent a very heterogenous group of patients, whose prognosis and clinical course are far from being clear. It also remains to be clarified what proportion of IPAF patients develop clear features of CTD over time. The aim of this observational trial is to define the clinical course of patients newly diagnosed with IPAF by prospectively following them for a period of 3 years, at 6-month intervals. The primary outcome will be 3-year lung transplant-free survival. The secondary outcome will be the proportion of patients who develop clinical and laboratoristic features clearly meeting criteria for a diagnosis of CTD at 3 years from the time of diagnosis of IPAF. Predictors of survival will also be studied.