Abstract Rationale The identification of exposure to allergens or irritants improves outcomes in patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). To improve exposure identification in patients with HP, the use of questionnaires has been recommended. Whilst questionnaires have been validated for use in American and Australian populations, none have been tested in a UK population. This study aims to assess the impact of a validated HP questionnaire on identification of exposures in a HP population in a tertiary interstitial lung disease (ILD) centre in the UK. Methods We performed a retrospective study of patients attending a tertiary interstitial lung disease centre in the UK. Between September 2022 and December 2023, patients with a new diagnosis of HP as determined by the local expert multidisciplinary team (MDT) were included in the study. A HP questionnaire validated for use in an Australian population (Barnes et al. Respirology 2022; 28:366-372) was introduced as part of new patient assessment in July 2023. Chi-squared test was used to compare the frequency of exposure identification between patients with and without questionnaire use. Results Of the 745 new referrals seen, 88 (11.8%) received a MDT diagnosis of HP (mean age 69.0±11.2, 38.6% male). Amongst individuals with HP, 14 (15.9%) completed the questionnaire as part of their diagnostic work-up and 74 (84.1%) did not. Within the HP population, an exposure was identified in 11 (78.6%) patients where a questionnaire was used to aid diagnosis while only 14 (18.9%) patients had an exposure identified without the use of a questionnaire (p = 0.02). Conclusions This single centre UK study demonstrates that the use of a validated HP questionnaire significantly increased the identification of an exposure in new HP diagnoses. Further multi-centre prospective studies may be warranted to validate the wider use of this questionnaire. Alongside this, further work is needed to produce a UK-specific questionnaire in order to further improve exposure identification for the UK population. This abstract is funded by: None
Siy-Yap et al. (Fri,) studied this question.