Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41073982›Full record

Observational studyBMC pulmonary medicine2025

Small airway lesions appear with the course of IPF and relate to the severity of pulmonary fibrosis progression.

Xiaoyan Wang, Ling Zhao, Dingyun Song, Xinran Zhang, Min Liu, Huaping Dai

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMulticenter StudyObservational Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Observational study in BMC pulmonary medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03666234 (Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry China Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03666234 unknown statusnot on this map

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry China Study

Typeobservational_patient_registrySponsorDai HuapingRan2018 to 2023Enrolled800ConditionsIdiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Xiaoyan WangImmune Dysfunction and Pulmonary Fibrosis Joint Laboratory for Clinical Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China.
Ling ZhaoDepartment of Pathology, Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, China.
Dingyun SongNational Center for Respiratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Health and Multimorbidity, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, Institute of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Center of Respiratory Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, China.
Xinran ZhangDepartment of Clinical Research and Data Management, Center of Respiratory Medicine, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, China.
Min LiuDepartment of Radiology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, China.
Huaping DaiImmune Dysfunction and Pulmonary Fibrosis Joint Laboratory for Clinical Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China. daihuaping@ccmu.edu.cn.

Funding

CAMS Innovational Fund for Medical Sciences No. 2021-I2M-1-011National Natural Science Foundation of China 82370072
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimIdiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) has long been considered a disease primarily involving the lung interstitium, with relative sparing of the airways. This study aimed to investigate the presence and characteristics of small airway abnormalities in patients with IPF.

methodsWe analyzed 137 patients with IPF and 84 controls from a prospective, multicenter cohort (trial registration: NCT03666234). IPF patients were stratified by fibrosis severity on CT and clinical disease severity scores. Small airway function was assessed using predicted maximal expiratory flow at 25% (MEF25%), 50% (MEF50%), and 25-75% of forced vital capacity (MEF25-75%). Airway segmentation and quantitative analysis of airway number, length, and volume were performed using FACT-Digital Lung™ software. Group differences were analyzed using SPSS (version 26).

resultsThe IPF group comprised 114 men and 23 women, with a mean age of 64.5 ± 10.7 years. MEF50%, MEF25%, and MEF25-75% were significantly lower in IPF patients than in controls across all severity stages. Conversely, the total number, length, and volume of segmented bronchi were higher in IPF patients, with the most pronounced differences observed in bronchi at generations 9-14. Small airway abnormalities were evident even in patients with mild fibrosis.

conclusionSmall airway abnormalities, including increased airway counts and functional impairment, are detectable in early-stage IPF and persist throughout disease progression, suggesting that small airway involvement is a fundamental feature of IPF.

Indexed as

BronchiIdiopathic Pulmonary FibrosisLungAgedCase-Control StudiesDisease ProgressionFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProspective StudiesSeverity of Illness IndexTomography, X-Ray ComputedVital CapacityHigh-resolution chest CTIdipathic pulmonary fibrosisPulmonary functionSmall airwayTransbronchial cryobiopsy

Identifiers

PMID41073982
PMCPMC12512905

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.