P160 Mortality from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in england and wales by birth cohort

Introduction and Objectives The incidence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been increasing at a rate of 5% per annum since 2000. By definition, the diagnosis of IPF is not made in the presence of an identifiable cause. However, the distribution of the disease in the population (more common in men, manual workers, and those living in more industrial areas of the country) suggests a causal contribution from an occupational or environmental source. This would be expected to produce a cohort effect. Our aim was to examine trends in IPF mortality data for evidence of such an effect. Methods Age and sex stratified mortality data for IPF were obtained for England and Wales from the Office of National Statistics for the period 1974–2012. Data were age-standardised and visualised using the Python Pandas data analysis library and matplotlib. Results There is evidence of a cohort effect with age-specific IPF death rates increasing in successive cohorts, most clearly seen from age 60. Overall rates were higher for men but there were not marked sex differences in cohort mortality trends (data not shown). Conclusions The birth cohort effect we observed is consistent with a proportion of IPF cases being due to an occupational or environmental exposure with latency and further research is needed.