【Abstract】Objective To investigate the survival status in the elderly patients with pulmonary interstitial fibrosis and analyze its related factors. Methods A total of 246 elderly patients with pulmonary interstitial fibrosis admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from June 2020 to June 2022 were included in the elderly group, and 160 non-elderly patients with pulmonary fibrosis in the non-elderly group. The quality of life of patients was investigated with the Chinese version of the Tool to Assess Quality of Life in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (cATAQ-IPF) and the patients′ attitude towards death with the Chinese version of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R). The clinical characteristics were compared between the elderly group and the non-elderly group, and binary logistic regression model was employed to analyze the factors affecting the patients′ quality of life in the elderly group. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between quality of life and patients′ attitude towards death in the elderly group. SPSS 22.0 was used for statistical analysis. Depending on data type, data comparison between two groups was performed using t test orχ2 test. Results In total, 220 patients in the elderly group and 150 in the non-elderly group completed the survey. Age, proportions of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease, disease course and interstitial lung disease-gender-age-physiology (ILD-GAP) index in the elderly group were higher than those in the non-elderly group, and the education level and total score on cATAQ-IPF scale were lower than those in the non-elderly group, the differences being statistically significant (P<0.05). The total score on cATAQ-IPF in the elderly patients with pulmonary interstitial fibrosis was (264.64±36.78) points, the three dimensions most severely impaired being dyspnea, death sensitivity and social activity and the least impaired being interpersonal relationship. Binary logistic regression analysis suggested that disease course (OR=2.323,95%CI 1.382-3.906), ILD-GAP index (OR=3.725,95%CI 1.285-10.797), forced vital capacity (FVC) (OR=2.404,95%CI 1.514-3.817), modified medical research council scale (mMRC) (OR=2.102,95%CI 1.555-2.843), anxiety (OR=1.774,95%CI 1.143-2.751) and depression (OR=1.610,95%CI 1.124-2.304) were the risk factors of quality of life in the elderly patients with pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, and having a spouse (OR=0.619,95%CI 0.474-0.809) and medical coping style (OR=0.489,95%CI 0.355-0.673) were the protective factors of quality of life (P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the patients′ quality of life was positively correlated with death fear and death avoidance (r=0.246,0.233；P=0.036,0.043), and was negatively correlated with natural acceptance (r=-0.278, P=0.021). Conclusion Compared with non-elderly patients, the elderly patients with pulmonary interstitial fibrosis have more underlying diseases, longer duration of pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, more serious condition and lower quality of life. In addition to disease-related factors, psychological factors have an impact on their quality of life. It is suggested to increase the attention to and intervention in psychological health in the elderly patients with pulmonary interstitial fibrosis in clinical practice.
