A Critique of the Research Article by Takamasa Wada and Hiromi Tomioka “Critical

Features and Outcomes of Idiopathic Fibrosis Patients Hospitalized for Pneumonia”

Summary

The article “Critical Features ad Outcomes of Idiopathic Fibrosis Patients Hospitalized for

Pneumonia”, by Takamasa Wada and Hiromi Tomioka sought to describe the clinical features

and outcomes of IPF patients hospitalized for pneumonia in the era of the new broader definition

of acute exacerbation. As they conducted a retrospective cohort study of IPF patients admitted to

Kobe City Medical Center West Hospital for pneumonia, they identified fifty-six cases of

pneumonia out 321 cases with IPF during the study period. On admission of these identified IPF

patient with pneumonia, it was found that the common bacterial pathogen was Streptococcus

pneumonia and the most frequent first-line antibiotic used was the penicillin. Hospitalized cases

of IPF due to pneumonia were more likely to be male, older, or smokers. Alcohol habit, BUN,

CRP and A-DROP score were used in a multiple logistics regression analysis for the comparison

of the thirty-day survivors and non-survivors among the IPF patients with pneumonia. Thus, A-

DROP score was only significantly associated with thirty-day mortality due to pneumonia. The

prognosis of IPF with pneumonia was better than that of acute exacerbation of IPF as the thirty-

day mortality and in-hospital mortality for IPF patient with pneumonia was 14.3% and 17.9%,

respectively and the acute exacerbation of IPF was up to 50%. The researchers claimed that it is

important to distinguish pneumonia from acute exacerbation from both the therapeutic and

prognosis points of view.

Critique

Evident from the very succinct statement in the article, the article was written in an objective

perspective. The title of the article is brief and informative which give a direct idea what the

article about. The abstract is specific, concise, and in a correct form which serve at its purpose as

the representative of the article. The mentioned purpose by the researchers was clearly stated

from the start which is “to describe the clinical features and outcomes of IPF patients

hospitalized for pneumonia in the era of the new broader definition of acute exacerbation” (p. 1).

The process of the said research was explained well with correct data, from the materials and

methods up to the results. They categorized the patient with pneumonia into Community-

Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) and Nursing and Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia (NHCAP)

group give us a way to describe from

Aside from that they compare the obtained data or result of the mortality of IPF patient with

pneumonia to other acute respiratory events of IPF such as acute exacerbation. Comparing the

data may be useful as it will help us to know the severity of the case. It make important

connections.

Significance /implications to Nursing

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic and progressive lung disease that may undergo acute

respiratory events such as pneumonia, bronchitis and acute exacerbations.