Prognostic Prediction in Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease Following Long-Term Oxygen Therapy Initiation Using C-Reactive Protein

Introduction: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a progressive pulmonary disease, and many patients with ILD eventually require long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) despite intensive treatment. Patients with ILD undergoing LTOT are usually in an advanced stage. It is clinically important to predict the prognosis of patients whose prognosis is potentially poor. However, the prognosis of patients with ILD undergoing LTOT remains unclear. Recently, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) has been reported to be associated with mortality in patients with ILD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of CRP in predicting the prognosis of patients with ILD undergoing LTOT. Methods: We enrolled 101 patients with ILD undergoing LTOT at our hospital between January 2014 and December 2020. We categorized the patients based on their CRP levels and compared their median overall survival (OS). A Cox regression analysis was employed to determine the relationship between CRP levels and prognosis. Results: The number of patients categorized into Group A (CRP Conclusion: CRP is a promising tool for predicting the prognosis of patients with ILD undergoing LTOT.