These data suggest that sarcoidosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis are the most frequent ILDs in our population. In comparison with the few previous reports, interesting dissimilarities have been observed.

For the first time in Thessaloniki, Greece, 15-year allergenic pollen records were conducted. Clinical observations confirm that the pollen mainly implicated in respiratory allergy symptoms are grasses, olive and wall pellitory.

A pollen calendar has been constructed for the area of Thessaloniki and relationships between pollen transport and meteorological parameters have been assessed. Daily airborne pollen records were collected over a 15-year period (1987-2001), using a Burkard continuous volumetric pollen trap, located in the centre of the city. Sixteen allergenic pollen types were identified. Simultaneously, daily records of five main meteorological parameters (mean air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, sunshine, wind speed) were made, and then correlated with fluctuations of the airborne pollen concentrations. For the first time in Greece, a pollen calendar has been constructed for 16 pollen types, from which it appears that 24.9% of the total pollen recorded belong to Cupressaceae, 20.8% to Quercus spp., 13.6% to Urticaceae, 9.1% to Oleaceae, 8.9% to Pinaceae, 6.3% to Poaceae, 5.4% to Platanaceae, 3.0% to Corylus spp., 2.5% to Chenopodiaceae and 1.4% to Populus spp. The percentages of Betula spp., Asteraceae (Artemisia spp. and Ambrosia spp.), Salix spp., Ulmaceae and Alnus spp. were each lower than 1%. A positive correlation between pollen transport and both mean temperature and sunshine was observed, whereas usually no correlation was found between pollen and relative humidity or rainfall. Finally, wind speed was generally found to have a significant positive correlation with the concentrations of 8 pollen types. For the first time in the area of Thessaloniki, and more generally in Greece, 15-year allergenic pollen records have been collected and meteorological parameters have been recorded. The airborne pollen concentration is strongly influenced by mean air temperature and sunshine duration. The highest concentrations of pollen grains are observed during spring (May).

Background Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) represents a chronic lung disease with unpredictable course. Methods We aimed to investigate prognostic performance of complete blood count parameters in IPF. Treatment-naïve patients with IPF were retrospectively enrolled from two independent cohorts (derivation and validation) and split into subgroups (high and low) based on median baseline monocyte count and red cell distribution width (RDW). Results Overall, 489 patients (derivation cohort: 300, validation cohort: 189) were analyzed. In the derivation cohort, patients with monocyte count ≥ 0.60 K/μL had significantly lower median FVC%pred [75.0, (95% CI 71.3–76.7) vs. 80.9, (95% CI 77.5–83.1), (P = 0.01)] and DLCO%pred [47.5, (95% CI 44.3–52.3) vs. 53.0, (95% CI 48.0–56.7), (P = 0.02)] than patients with monocyte count < 0.60 K/μL. Patients with RDW ≥ 14.1% had significantly lower median FVC%pred [75.5, (95% CI 71.2–79.2) vs. 78.3, (95% CI 76.0–81.0), (P = 0.04)] and DLCO%pred [45.4, (95% CI 43.3–50.5) vs. 53.0, (95% CI 50.8–56.8), (P = 0.008)] than patients with RDW < 14.1%. Cut-off thresholds from the derivation cohort were applied to the validation cohort with similar discriminatory value, as indicated by significant differences in median DLCO%pred between patients with high vs. low monocyte count [37.8, (95% CI 35.5–41.1) vs. 45.5, (95% CI 41.9–49.4), (P < 0.001)] and RDW [37.9, (95% CI 33.4–40.7) vs. 44.4, (95% CI 41.5–48.9), (P < 0.001)]. Patients with high monocyte count and RDW of the validation cohort exhibited a trend towards lower median FVC%pred (P = 0.09) and significantly lower median FVC%pred (P = 0.001), respectively. Kaplan–Meier analysis in the derivation cohort demonstrated higher all-cause mortality in patients with high (≥ 0.60 K/μL) vs. low monocyte count (< 0.60 K/μL) [HR 2.05, (95% CI 1.19–3.53), (P = 0.01)]. Conclusions Increased monocyte count and RDW may represent negative prognostic biomarkers in patients with IPF.