Kim J, Chun J, Lee C, et al. - Since the connection between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remains unclear, researchers used nationwide, population-based study to assess the risk for developing IPF in patients with IBD. Patients with IBD, including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis, were identified through both ICD-10 and rare and intractable diseases (RID) program codes from January 2010 to December 2013 using claims data from the National Health Insurance service in Korea. Thirty-eight thousand nine hundred twenty-one IBD patients were compared with age- and sex-matched people without IBD in a ratio of 1:3. The incidence of IPF in patients with IBD was 33.21 per 100,000 person-years during a mean 4.9-year follow-up. In IBD patients, the overall risk of IPF was substantially higher than in non-IBD controls. In IBD patients, the risk of developing IPF was greater in men than in females. Overall, the authors concluded that IBD patients, particularly CD patients, are at enhanced danger of developing IPF.