Work productivity and activity impairment in people with pulmonary fibrosis: insights from the I-FILE registry

<bold>Introduction:</bold> Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) has a major impact on lives of patients and their families. Nevertheless, data on work life of people with PF is currently lacking. Here, we evaluated the impact of PF on work productivity and activity impairment. <bold>Methods:</bold> As part of the online I-FILE patient-led PF registry in 7 countries (<ext-link>NCT04304898</ext-link>), people with PF completed the work productivity and activity impairment (WPAI) questionnaire. They reported number of hours work per week, hours absent due to PF in the last 7 days, and a numeric rating scale on work productivity from 0 (disease has no impact on work) to 10 (disease prevents me from working). <bold>Results:</bold> 295 patients in the I-FILE study completed the WPAI; baseline FVC was 81.1±19.6%predicted and DLCOc 55.1±17.7%. 81.3% (n=240) of patients were newly diagnosed (≤6months). Mean age was 68.5±9.7 years, and 28% of patients were <65years of age. 20.8% of all patients (n=61) and 54.9% (n=45) of patients <65years had paid work. FVC and disease duration were similar in patients with and without paid work. Patients worked a mean of 26.9±17.2 hours per week, with a median of 0 hours (IQR 0-8) of absence due to their disease in the last 7 days. Patients with a paid job reported that their disease had almost no impact on work productivity (median score 0, IQR 0-3). <bold>Conclusion:</bold> In the working age population of people with PF participating in a home monitoring registry, almost half were unemployed. Interestingly, patients who had a paid job felt that work productivity was not largely impacted by their disease. As the majority of patients were newly diagnosed, follow-up data should reveal the impact of PF on work life during the disease course.