Clinical characteristics of patients with familial idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (f-IPF)

The aim of this study was to analyze the relative frequency, clinical characteristics, disease onset and progression in f-IPF vs. sporadic IPF (s-IPF). Methods: Familial IPF index patients and their family members were recruited into the European IPF registry/ biobank (eurIPFreg) at the Universities of Giessen and Marburg (UGMLC). Initially, we employed wide range criteria of f-IPF (e.g. relatives who presumably died of some kind of parenchymal lung disease).