Cardiovascular Structural and Functional Parameters in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis at Disease Diagnosis

Prevalence of cardiac and vascular fibrosis in patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) has not been extensively evaluated.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the heart and vessels functional and structural properties in patients with IPF compared to healthy controls. An exploratory analysis regarding disease severity in IPF patients has been done.

We enrolled 50 patients with IPF (at disease diagnosis before antifibrotic therapy initiation) and 50 controls matched for age and gender. Heart was evaluated through echocardiography and plasmatic NT-pro-brain natriuretic peptide that, together with patients’ symptoms, allow to define the presence of Heart Failure (HF) and diastolic dysfunction. Vessels were evaluated through Flow Mediated Dilation (FMD – endothelial function) and Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV—arterial stiffness)

Patients with IPF had a prevalence of diastolic disfunction of 83.8%, HF of 37.8% and vascular fibrosis of 76.6%. No statistically significant difference was observed in comparison to the control group who showed prevalence of diastolic disfunction, HF and vascular fibrosis of 67.3%, 24.5% and 84.8%, respectively. Disease severity seems not to affect PWV, FMD, diastolic dysfunction and HF.

Patients with IPF early in the disease course do not present a significant CV fibrotic involvement when compared with age- and sex-matched controls. Bigger and adequately powered studies are needed to confirm our preliminary data and longitudinal studies are required in order to understand the time of appearance and progression rate of heart and vascular involvement in IPF subjects.