Phenotype and genotype of French cystic fibrosis patients with long survival and follow-up

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical features and the genotype characteristics of French patients diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) before their fifth year and who were still alive after 30 years. It is the first descriptive study of 114 CF patients with long survival and follow-up. We compared this subgroup of French CF patients with the overall French CF population and with French adult (> 18 years) CF patients regardless of their age at diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from the French CF registry. Results: The 67 men and 47 women studied were 30–59 years old. Some 56% of the patients had ΔF508 homozygous genotype, 90% had a pancreatic insufficiency, and 81% were colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 19.5 for both female and male patients. Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s was 46% (S.D. 29.2) of the predicted value for men and 53% (S.D. 20.6) for women. Eleven patients underwent a lung transplantation. Conclusions: The data on the patients with long survival and long follow-up were very similar to the data of the overall CF adult population in terms of clinical status. Therefore, criteria such as ΔF508 homozygous genotype, pancreatic insufficiency, and P. aeruginosa colonization are not sufficient to serve as prognostic criteria for life expectancy in CF patients