Hospitalization Outcomes for COVID-19 in Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease; a Potential Role for Aerodigestive Pathophysiology?

Chaudhuri respond to Althuwaybi et al on their article about hospitalization outcomes for COVID-19 in patients with interstitial lung disease, exploring the potential role for aerodigestive pathophysiology Althuwaybi and colleagues propose an interesting hypothesis to explain the potential mechanism for increased risk of mortality following hospitalization for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) In their study these data were not collected, and therefore, we cannot not make comparisons with the control population Gastroesophageal reflux is strongly linked to hiatus hernia, which is twice as prevalent in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) as the general population It is therefore plausible that proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may have been prescribed in excess in patients with ILD