NHMRC Project Grant: Occupational and Environmental Exposures Associated with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in Australia
A case-control study
Researchers from Monash University, University of Tasmania and The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital are conducting a nationwide case-control study which aims to identify occupations and exposures associated with the development of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in Australia. The study will be undertaken in collaboration with the Australian Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry (AIPFR), supported by the Lung Foundation of Australia.
Respiratory physicians from every State and Territory across Australia are involved as members of the Registry Steering Committee and in the ongoing and active referral of IPF patients.
This study has received ethics approval from the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Ethics Committee, and is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant.
Study Team
Chief Investigators
- Prof Michael Abramson
- Prof Haydn Walters
- A/Prof Tamera Corte
- Dr Geza Benke
Associate Investigators
- A/Prof Ian Glaspole
- Prof Paul Reynolds
- A/Prof Peter Hopkins
- Prof Rory Wolfe
- Dr Ryan Hoy
- Prof Shyamali Dharmage
- A/Prof Yuben Moodley
Study Coordinator
- Ms Shuli Rawson
Data Manager
- Mr Anthony Del Monaco
Background
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive scarring lung disease of unknown cause with no effective treatment and an average survival time of 2-3 years from the time of diagnosis. Although IPF is a relatively rare disease, IPF-related mortality is similar in magnitude to many high priority cancers including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, renal cancer and oesophageal cancer. There is currently no cure for IPF, although some available treatments slow the progress of the lung disease. Identification of occupational and environmental risk factors in Australia will influence public health policy recommendations to control these exposures and over time reduce the occurrence of this devastating lung disease.
Participation
Cases
For this study, cases are recruited by the Australian Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry (AIPFR). Eligible participants include cases with confirmed IPF.
Controls
Population-based controls (frequency matched for age, gender and state) will be recruited and analysis performed by a team of investigators who are highly experienced in undertaking large epidemiological studies. To exclude potential IPF in controls, questions will be asked regarding known history of lung diseases including pulmonary fibrosis.
Participation in this study involves answering questions by telephone interview. Control participants will be asked questions about their general health, smoking history, household exposures and work history. The telephone interview will be conducted by a professional interviewer from the Hunter Research Foundation (www.hrf.com.au) and will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
If you have been invited to take part in this study as a control participant and would like to find out more about what participation involves, you can download the Explanatory Statement here.
Confidentiality
Results of the study will be published in medical journals and presented at conferences. No confidential information will be contained in publications. The results of the study will be presented as grouped data which means that no individual participants can be identified.
Links
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Contact Us
For further details about this study, please contact the Study Coordinator, Shuli Rawson,
shuli.rawson@monash.edu or on (03) 9903 0220.