Autoimmune ILD

The most common symptoms of ILDs are dyspnea and cough.¹⁴

Other clinical features include:^14-18

• Fatigue
• Crackles on auscultation
• Restrictive pattern on pulmonary function tests (PFTs)
  • Patients can have other pathologies that could result in mixed or sometimes pure obstructive patterns
• Diffuse lung infiltration on chest imaging

Patients with known or suspected autoimmune disease who present with dyspnea, cough, or crackles on chest exam should undergo workup (e.g., high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), PFTs)³

• Patients with autoimmune ILD may have subclinical or asymptomatic lung involvement but ILD can often be detected on HRCT or via PFTs⁴

Most autoimmune ILDs commonly present as nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP).⁹

• The primary exception is RA, which is characterized by a higher frequency of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP).⁹