Relationship Between Air Pollution in Madrid and the Mortality of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Aim: To assess the relationship between air pollution and the mortality of IPF. Methods: The probability of death was analyzed from 32 IPF patients diagnosed in our ILD Unit from 2011 to 2019 and it was related to the values of (CO, NO2, PM2.5, PM10, O3 and SO2) in Madrid during that period. Results: Thirty-two patients were reviewed with a mean age of 66±10 years at the time of diagnosis, 7 (21.9%) of them were women. The average of the pollutants from the three months prior to the date of death of the 11 patients was (34.4%) patients who died was SO2=9.518±4.397μg/m2, NO2=58.910±8.819μg/m2, CO=0.390±0.104mg/m2, O3=38.778±15.309 μg/m2, PM2,5=12.371±2.138 μg/m2 PM10= 23.583±5.196 μg/m2 and the average air in the previous three months to the last clinic visit in 21 (65,6%) patients who are still alive was SO2 =8.736±1.719 μg/m2, NO2=56.216±9.586μg/m2, CO=0.237±0.106 mg/m2 O3=48.294±14,059 μg/m2 PM2,5=11.029±2,280 μg/m2 PM10=22.376±4,533 μg/m2 . Firstly, we observed that those 28 (87.5%) patients who were treated had no association with the probability of death [OR=7,500 (0.676-83.264)] (p=0.101) and after that we saw that pollution levels in all patients were not associated with the likelihood of dying: OR SO2= 1.154 (0.521-2.557) (p=0.723), OR CO=1.247 (0.970-1.602) (p=0.085), OR NO2 = 0.829 (0.468-1.468) (p=0.520), OR O3 = 0.944 (0.578-1.544) (p=0.820), OR PM2,5 = 0.646 (0.152-2.744) (p=0.554), OR PM10 = 1.302 (0.668-2.537) (p=0.439). Conclusion: There is no evidence to affirm that air pollution in Madrid is associated with the probability of death in IPF patients.