Type I Collagen–targeted Positron Emission Tomography Imaging in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: First-in-Human Studies

mortality trends.Data from the Office of National Statistics suggest that the number of deaths assigned to the respiratory chapter as a whole decreased by 22% as a result of the introduction of ICD-10 codes, largely driven by the decrease in number of deaths assigned to pneumonia (10).It is possible that this may have resulted in further underestimating the actual number of IPF-CS-related deaths.These findings are consistent with our work demonstrating a progressive increase in IPF mortality in the United Kingdom (1, 2, 11).Increased case ascertainment could be a contributing factor to the trends seen, but it is also possible that the true incidence of IPF has continued to increase.If the marked increase in number of deaths is purely due to increased disease recognition, there is no evidence that ascertainment is complete, and continued upward trends in mortality are likely to be seen.In summary, IPF-CS now accounts for almost 7% of all respiratory deaths in the United Kingdom (4) and carries the same mortality burden as liver, bladder, and intracranial malignancies.Despite increasing research investment, it remains an important cause of respiratory mortality and a growing public health problem.