https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2025.3220

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the profile of interstitial lung disease presenting to the pulmonary medicine department of a tertiary care center in western India

Early Access
Submitted: October 10, 2024
Accepted: January 13, 2025
Published: March 20, 2025
Post-COVID ILD, pattern of ILD, interstitial fibrosis
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Authors

Unnati Desai
unnati_desai82@yahoo.co.in
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7647-0469
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Topiwala National Medical College and B. Y. L. Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Ketaki Utpat
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Topiwala National Medical College and B. Y. L. Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Aravind Raj
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Topiwala National Medical College and B. Y. L. Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the etiological pattern of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). This study aimed to analyze the profile of ILDs presenting to our department during the pandemic. Specifically, this cross-sectional observational study was conducted with the institute's ethics committee approval in the year 2021-2022. The clinical profile and history of COVID-19 illness in ILDs were noted. Data was analyzed in percentages and means. Of the 136 cases included, 85 (62.5%) were men and 51 (37.5%) women. The average age was 55.1±12.01 years. Cough and breathlessness were the predominant symptoms. A total of 20 (15%) participants gave a past history of COVID-19, of whom 2 (10%) had mild, 2 (10%) had moderate, and 16 (80%) had severe COVID-19 illness. Among them, 9 (45%) cases had pre-existing ILD. Thus, 11 (55%) had new-onset ILD attributed to severe COVID-19. This contributed to 8% of the ILD caseload. Predominant ILD patterns on high-resolution computed tomography thorax were usual interstitial pneumonia, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), and non-specific interstitial pneumonia. The ILD diagnosis with multidisciplinary discussion was idiopathic interstitial pneumonitis in 44 cases, HP in 36, connective tissue disease-ILD in 35, post-COVID-19 ILD in 11, sarcoidosis in 8, and silicosis in 2. COVID-19 was attributed to only 8% of the caseload and was the fourth most common cause of ILD. Generally, ILD cases were younger patients and had severe disease.

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Ethics Approval

Ethic approval number - PG Academic project number ECARP/2021/05.

How to Cite

Desai, Unnati, Ketaki Utpat, and Aravind Raj. 2025. “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Profile of Interstitial Lung Disease Presenting to the Pulmonary Medicine Department of a Tertiary Care Center in Western India”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease, March. https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2025.3220.
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