Pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions to improve symptom control, functional exercise capacity and quality of life in interstitial lung disease: an evidence synthesis

Management of musculoskeletal pain in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a review

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, fibrotic, and fatal interstitial lung disease (ILD) of unknown etiology that primarily affects the elderly. Patients with IPF suffer from a heavy symptom burden and usually have a poor quality of life. Dyspnea and dry cough are predominant symptoms of IPF. Although pain is not considered one of the main symptoms of IPF, it can occur for a variety of reasons, such as hypoxia, coughing, muscle and nerve damage, deconditioning, and steroid use. The prevalence of pain in IPF patients varies greatly, ranging from around 30 to 80%, with the prevalence being estimated mostly among patients in the end-of-life period. It manifests itself in the form of muscle pain, joint discomfort, or back and chest pain. Approaches to the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain in patients with IPF include pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures that are also important to optimize the treatment of other symptoms (dyspnea and cough) and the optimal treatment of comorbidities. Given the scarcity of data on this symptom in the literature, this article summarizes what is currently known about the etiology and treatment of musculoskeletal pain in IPF.

Health Related Quality of Life in Interstitial Lung Disease: Can We Use the Same Concepts Around the World?

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) is increasingly viewed as an important patient-centered outcome by leading health organizations, clinicians, and patients alike. This is especially true in the interstitial lung disease community where patients often struggle with progressive and debilitating disease with few therapeutic options. In order to test the effectiveness of new pharmacologic therapies and non-pharmacologic interventions globally in ILD, this will require expansion of clinical research studies to a multinational level and HRQOL will be an important endpoint to many. In order to successfully expand trials across multiple nations and compare the results of studies between different communities we must recognize that there are differences in the concepts of HRQOL across the world and have strategies to address these differences. In this review, we will describe the different global influences on HRQOL both generally and in the context of ILD, discuss the processes of linguistic translation and cross-cultural adaptation of HRQOL Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), and highlight the gaps and opportunities for improving HRQOL measurement in ILD across the world.