title: The Italian register for diffuse infiltrative lung disorders (RIPID): a four-year report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  RIPID (Italian register for diffuse infiltrative lung disorders) is a register aimed to create a national database of diffuse infiltrative lung disorders, also known as interstitial lung diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  The RIPID register collected prevalent data on patients affected by infiltrative diffuse lung disorders. The data form contains socio-demographic information (sex, age, years of education), existence in life, smoking habits, clinical data, diagnostic procedures (chest high resolution computed tomography (HRCT), bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), transbronchial biopsies (TBB), surgical biopsies) and respiratory function tests at the time of diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Up to 18/01/2005 a total of 3152 patients had been included in the register. Seventy-nine centers and 138 physicians in all 20 regions of Italy contributed to patient enrolment. The vast majority of cases were from Northern Italy (2343 cases, 75%). The most frequently reported diagnoses were Sarcoidosis (1063 patients) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF, 864 patients).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data in the RIPID confirm that epidemiological registries can be useful tools to investigate rare or relatively rare disorders (e.g. Sarcoidosis and IPF), in order to design multicentric clinical studies of adequate sample size, aimed at providing standardized diagnostic, management and follow up criteria with a particular regard to outcome.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology and Biometric Unit, IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy. ctinelli@smatteo.pv.it
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinelli
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Silvestri
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Richeldi
authors.forename: Tiberio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oggionni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017565:Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015996:Survival Rate