The impact of diagnostic delay on survival in alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency: results from the Austrian Alpha-1 Lung Registry

BACKGROUND: Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency (AATD) is a genetic disorder that can manifest as lung disease. A delay between onset of symptoms and diagnosis of AATD is common and associated with worse clinical status and more advanced disease stage but the influence on survival is unclear. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the impact of diagnostic delay on overall survival (OS) and transplant-free survival (TS) in AATD patients. METHODS: We analysed 268 AATD patients from the prospective multi-centre Austrian Alpha-1 Lung (AAL) Registry, employing descriptive statistics, Chi-square-test as well as univariable (Kaplan–Meier plots, log-rank test) and multivariable survival analysis (Cox regression). RESULTS: The predominant phenotype was Pi*ZZ (82.1%). At diagnosis, 90.2% had an AAT level below 0.6 g/L. At inclusion, 28.2% had never smoked, 68.0% had quit smoking and 3.8% continued to smoke. Lung disease was diagnosed in 98.5%, thereof most patients were diagnosed with emphysema (63.8%) and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (44.0%). Median diagnostic delay was 5.3 years (inter-quartile range [IQR] 2.2–11.5 years). In multivariable analysis (n = 229), a longer diagnostic delay was significantly associated with worse OS (hazard ratio [HR] 1.61; 95% CI 1.09–2.38; p = 0.016) and TS (HR 1.43; 95% CI 1.08–1.89; p = 0.011), independent from age, smoking status, body mass index (BMI), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) and long-term oxygen treatment. Furthermore, BMI, age and active smoking were significantly associated with worse OS as well as BMI, active smoking and FEV(1) were with worse TS. CONCLUSIONS: A delayed diagnosis was associated with significantly worse OS and TS. Screening should be improved and efforts to ensure early AATD diagnosis should be intensified. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12931-023-02338-0.