Background: Early and integrated palliative care is recommended for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Unfortunately, palliative care delivery remains poor due to various barriers in practice. This study describes various palliative care delivery models in a real-world cohort of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, examines the predictors of survival in this cohort of patients, and explores the impact of palliative care on survival. Design: Charts were reviewed retrospectively and analyzed. The primary outcome was survival during a 4-year follow-up period. Two multivariable models were created to examine the impact of therapeutic strategies including palliative intervention on survival. Results: 298 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis were enrolled from 3 interstitial lung disease clinics with different palliative care models in Edmonton, Canada; Bristol, UK; and Kingston, Canada. 200 (67%) patients received palliative care and 119 (40%) died during follow up. Primary palliative care models (Edmonton and Bristol) delivered palliative care to 96% and 100% respectively compared 21% in the referral model (Queens). Palliative care [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) .28 (.12-.65)] along with the use of antifibrotics [aHR .56 (.37-.84)], and body mass index >30 [aHR .47 (.37-.85)] reduced the risk of death in our idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis cohort. Opioid use was associated with worse survival [aHR 2.11 (1.30-23.43)]. Conclusions: Both palliative care and antifibrotic use were associated with survival benefit in this cohort of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis after adjusting for covariates. The benefit was seen despite differences in disease severity and different palliative care delivery models.
Keywords: antifibrotic agents; mortality; palliative care; pulmonary fibrosis; survival; symptom assessment.