Objectives Pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with lung disease (Group 3 PH) is a serious complication that negatively impacts patient outcomes. This study aimed to assess the epidemiology and disease burden of Group 3 PH in the UK, focusing on interstitial lung disease (ILD-PH). Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Electronic medical records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum, linked to Hospital Episode Statistics. Participants 6690 incident cases of Group 3 PH, including 1561 ILD-PH cases, were identified from a sample of approximately 33 million individuals between January 2017 and December 2019. Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcomes included prevalence and incidence of Group 3 PH and ILD-PH. Secondary outcomes included patient characteristics, overall survival, hospitalisations, outpatient visits and healthcare costs. Results Over the 3-year period, prevalence and annual incidence were 139/million (95% CI 134 to 142) and 73/million/year (95% CI 70 to 76) for Group 3 PH and 36/million (95% CI 33 to 37.3) and 17/million/year (95% CI 16 to 19) for ILD-PH. Median overall survival was 19.3 (95% CI 17.77 to 20.8) for Group 3 PH and 15.1 months (95% CI 12.66 to 18.2) for ILD-PH. Following a PH diagnosis, all-cause inpatient visits increased by 33.6% from baseline. The all-cause annual hospitalisation rate was 1.63 (95% CI 1.6 to 1.65) for Group 3 PH and 1.36 (95% CI 1.31 to 1.4) for ILD-PH, with about half linked to PH diagnosis. Pulmonologists were the most consulted specialists, averaging 1.78 (95% CI 1.76 to 1.81) and 2.31 (95% CI 2.25 to 2.37) visits per patient per year for Group 3 PH and ILD-PH, respectively. Annual per-patient costs were £7761 (95% CI 7759 to 7762) for Group 3 PH and £7170 (95% CI 7167.17 to 7173.69) for ILD-PH. Conclusion Incidence and prevalence of Group 3 PH in the UK are consistent with other European countries. Patients had poor survival, with PH associated with half of hospital admissions, highlighting the negative impact of PH in chronic lung disease.
Kiely et al. (2026) studied this question.