Association of interstitial lung abnormalities with overall survival in patients with lung cancer: a meta-analysis

<bold>Background:</bold> With the increasing popularity of lung cancer screening, more and more incidental findings in chest CT were identified, especially interstitial lung abnormalities (ILAs). ILAs are associated with ILD development and mortality, but their association with lung cancer has not been comprehensively investigated. Therefore, we conducted this study to reveal the impact of ILAs on lung cancer survival. <bold>Methods:</bold> PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus were searched for relevant studies, and hazard ratios (HRs) were merged to evaluate the association of ILAs with lung cancer survival. The study was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42023464671). <bold>Results:</bold> Ten studies were identified after a systematic search, involving 4101 patients with lung cancer. Pooled results revealed that ILAs are negatively associated with overall survival (OS) of lung cancer (HR = 1.92, 95%CI: 1.62-2.26). <bold>Conclusions:</bold> Patients with ILAs have poorer OS of lung cancer. Therefore, clinicians should pay more attention to those accompanied by ILAs during lung cancer treatment, while standardized identification and reporting of ILAs are also important. <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA4212/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig> <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA4212/F2</object-id><object-id>F2</object-id><object-id>F2</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>