Table 1.
Comparison between the fibrotic and non-fibrotic DPLD in the patients’ group regarding the baseline and functional characteristics.
Fig 1.
Distribution of the DPLD group of patients according to HRCT evidence of fibrotic disease, FVC
≤ 50% and exercise induced desaturation (EID) evaluated during 6MWT.
Table 2.
Comparison between the fibrotic and non- fibrotic DPLD in the patients’ group regarding LUS findings, CT findings and Warrick score.
Fig 2.
Correlations between US parameters (including total B-lines
(A), number of zones with B-lines ≥ 3 (B), pleural irregularities (C) and fragmentation (D)) and the FVC% predicted (r = -0.693, p < 0.001; r = -0.753, p < 0.001; r = -0.700, p < 0.001; r = 0.722, p < 0.001 respectively).
Table 3.
Multivariate logistic regression regarding the severity of FVC (as ≤ 50% considered severe disease).
Fig 3.
ROC curve and AUC analysis for predicting severe fibrotic DPLD.
LUS score constitutes pleural abnormalities and number of zones with B-lines ≥ 3 (AUC = 0.806, CI95% = 0.690–0.922, p = 0.001) and severity score constituting of LUS score, T90 and 6MWT nadir SpO2 (AUC = 0.832, CI95% = 0.723–0.941, p = 0.001) for predicting severe fibrotic DPLD (i.e., those with evidence of HRCT fibrosis and FVC ≤ 50%).
Fig 4.
A. ROC curve and AUC analysis of LUS score for predicting DPLD (fibrotic and non-fibrotic) (AUC = 0.903, CI95% = 0.816–0.990, p < 0.001); B. ROC curve and AUC analysis of severity score for predicting DPLD (fibrotic and non-fibrotic) (AUC = 0.903, CI95% = 0.816–0.990, p < 0.001).