Browsing by Author "Pleasants, Roy A"

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    Interstitial lung disease in a veterans affairs regional network; a retrospective cohort study.
    (PloS one, 2021-01) Bedoya, Armando; Pleasants, Roy A; Boggan, Joel C; Seaman, Danielle; Reihman, Anne; Howard, Lauren; Kundich, Robert; Welty-Wolf, Karen; Tighe, Robert M

    Background

    The epidemiology of Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILD) in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is presently unknown.

    Research question

    Describe the incidence/prevalence, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of ILD patients within the Veteran's Administration Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN6).

    Study design and methods

    A multi-center retrospective cohort study was performed of veterans receiving hospital or outpatient ILD care from January 1, 2008 to December 31st, 2015 in six VISN6 facilities. Patients were identified by at least one visit encounter with a 515, 516, or other ILD ICD-9 code. Demographic and clinical characteristics were summarized using median, 25th and 75th percentile for continuous variables and count/percentage for categorical variables. Characteristics and incidence/prevalence rates were summarized, and stratified by ILD ICD-9 code. Kaplan Meier curves were generated to define overall survival.

    Results

    3293 subjects met the inclusion criteria. 879 subjects (26%) had no evidence of ILD following manual medical record review. Overall estimated prevalence in verified ILD subjects was 256 per 100,000 people with a mean incidence across the years of 70 per 100,000 person-years (0.07%). The prevalence and mean incidence when focusing on people with an ILD diagnostic code who had a HRCT scan or a bronchoscopic or surgical lung biopsy was 237 per 100,000 people (0.237%) and 63 per 100,000 person-years respectively (0.063%). The median survival was 76.9 months for 515 codes, 103.4 months for 516 codes, and 83.6 months for 516.31.

    Interpretation

    This retrospective cohort study defines high ILD incidence/prevalence within the VA. Therefore, ILD is an important VA health concern.
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    The Eyes Have It-for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: a Preliminary Observation.
    (Pulmonary therapy, 2022-09) Pleasants, Roy A; Bedoya, Armando D; Boggan, Joel M; Welty-Wolf, Karen; Tighe, Robert M

    Introduction

    The disease origins of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which occurs at higher rates in certain races/ethnicities, are not understood. The highest rates occur in white persons of European descent, particularly those with light skin, who are also susceptible to lysosomal organelle dysfunction of the skin leading to fibroproliferative disease . We had observed clinically that the vast majority of patients with IPF had light-colored eyes, suggesting a phenotypic characteristic.

    Methods

    We pursued this observation through a research database from the USA Veterans Administration, a population that has a high occurrence of IPF due to predominance of elderly male smokers. Using this medical records database, which included facial photos, we compared the frequency of light (blue, green, hazel) and dark (light brown, brown) eyes among white patients diagnosed with IPF compared with a control group of lung granuloma only (no other radiologic evidence of interstitial lung disease).

    Results

    Light eye color was significantly more prevalent in patients with IPF than in the control group with lung granuloma [114/147 (77.6%) versus 129/263 (49.0%], p < 0.001), indicating that light-colored eyes are a phenotype associated with IPF .

    Conclusion

    We provide evidence that light eye color is predominant among white persons with IPF.