Comparison of evidence-based treatment recommendations in the 2011 and 2015 guidelines for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
| Agent | 2015 Guideline | 2011 Guideline |
| New and revised recommendations | ||
| Anticoagulation (warfarin) | Strong recommendation against use# | Conditional recommendation against use+ |
| Combination prednisone+azathioprine+N-acetylcysteine | Strong recommendation against use¶ | Conditional recommendation against use |
| Selective endothelin receptor antagonist (ambrisentan) | Strong recommendation against use¶ | Not addressed |
| Imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with one target | Strong recommendation against use# | Not addressed |
| Nintedanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with multiple targets | Conditional recommendation for use# | Not addressed |
| Pirfenidone | Conditional recommendation for use# | Conditional recommendation against use¶ |
| Dual endothelin receptor antagonists (macitentan, bosentan) | Conditional recommendation against use¶ | Strong recommendation against use# |
| Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (sildenafil) | Conditional recommendation against use# | Not addressed |
| Unchanged recommendations | ||
| Antiacid therapy | Conditional recommendation for use+ | Conditional recommendation for use+ |
| N-acetylcysteine monotherapy | Conditional recommendation against use¶ | Conditional recommendation against use¶ |
| Antipulmonary hypertension therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis-associated pulmonary hypertension | Reassessment of the previous recommendation was deferred | Conditional recommendation against use+ |
| Lung transplantation: single versus bilateral lung transplantation | Formulation of a recommendation for single versus bilateral lung transplantation was deferred | Not addressed |
Reproduced from [3], with permission from the publisher. #: moderate confidence in effect estimates; ¶: low confidence in effect estimates; +: very low confidence in effect estimates.