Third, personal health management programs will be developed for patients with lung disease to follow while at home. Synonyms include cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis and chronic interstitial fibrosis. Men and women are equally affected. IPF commonly occurs during the ages of 40 to 70 but can occur at all ages. There is no relationship to smoking except that smokers have a much more severe course.
Shortness of breath is the most common first symptom.
It is often subtle but gradually worsens over months. It can eventually become severe. The chest x-ray shows small linear opacities at the lung bases and the lungs have the appearance of a honeycomb. This honeycombing pattern represents cystic scarring and destruction of the lung. No medication has yet been developed that will stop or reverse the fibrosing process.