Assessment of nutritional status in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Introduction: Malnutrition is particularly common in advanced chronic respiratory insufficiency. To our knowledge, no study has evaluated the nutritional status in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Aims: The main purpose of our study is to assess the nutritional status in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Patients and methods: This is a multicenter , cross-sectional study carried out at the pulmonology department and the biochemistry department at Hedi Chaker Hospital , Sfax ) and covering a period of six months . Results: Thirty patients were included in the study. All of them had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis whose diagnosis was confirmed by CT scan. The positif diagnostic was obtained with histology by lung biopsy in only 10% of cases. All patients were symptomatic. Dyspnoea was advanced in the majority of cases . The average body mass index was 25.127kg/m 2 . Skinfold thickness averaged 13.11 mm . The average protide level was 61 g/l while the transferrin level was 45µmol/l Conclusion : Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis may affect the nutritional status of patients. Therefore , we should take into consideration the body mass index while dealing with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.