Clarifying the Diagnosis of Post-Inflammatory Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Population-based Study

Epidemiologic studies are important in defining the distribution and burden of diseases in a population. A common method of studying interstitial lung disease (ILD) epidemiology has been the analysis of insurance and billing claims databases, such as the Commercial Claims and Encounters Database and the Medicare Supplemental and Coordination of Benefits Database. These studies rely on the accuracy of International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes to identify a patient population of interest. Several studies have described the incidence and prevalence of ILD by methodically searching ICD codes related to ILD or by using code-based algorithms [1–6]. Footnotes This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. Conflict of interest: Dr. Vu has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Vasireddy has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Moua has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Baqir has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Ryu has nothing to disclose.