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Cystic Fibrosis Center Outcomes Data
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The UW Cystic Fibrosis Center is one of more than 115 care centers across the country accredited by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We work closely with the Foundation to continue to improve the care and quality-of-life of our patients and publicly report our center-specific data to give patients, families and ourselves an opportunity to look for areas of improvement.

 

Pulmonary Function and Nutritional Outcomes

 

Pulmonary function and nutrition are important indicators of the health of cystic fibrosis patients. The Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1, the volume of air a person is able to forcefully blow out in a second) is considered a good indicator of lung function. The Body Mass Index (BMI, a ratio of body weight to stature) is considered a good indicator of nutritional status.

 

CF Patient Population UW 2007 Top 10 Centers U.S. Average
Lung function in children 6-12 years 95% 104% 95%
Lung function in children 13-17 years 91% 99% 88%
Lung function in adults 18-30 years 58% 85% 69%
Lung function in adults > 30 years 51% 65% 54%
Median BMI percentile for patients 2-20 years 51.5% 61.6% 47.5%
Median BMI for patients > 20 years 21.7 kg/m2 23.3 kg/m2 21.7 kg/m2

 

 

Care Provision Performance

 

Current guidelines of care recommend that patients with cystic fibrosis be evaluated at an accredited CF Center at least quarterly. In addition, patients should undergo pulmonary function testing at least two times a year and have a culture of their respiratory secretions performed at least once a year. The recommendation is also to increase the frequency of follow up for those patients that have more severe disease. We believe that more frequent clinic visits and more frequent monitoring of pulmonary function and sputum cultures can lead to better outcomes. Thus, we strive to exceed the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's recommended testing and obtain pulmonary function test and a sputum culture (or throat swab culture for patients who cannot cough out sputum) at every clinic visit.

 

CF Patient Population UW 2007 Top 10 Centers U.S. Average
Children 6-17 years meeting guidelines for care 77.9% 90.7% 68.2%
Children 6-17 years, four or more clinic visits 83.1% 92.8% 71.5%
Children 6-17 years, one or more cultures 98.7% 100% 97.8%
Children 6-17 years, two or more PFTs 90.9% 100% 89.8%
Adults ? 18 years meeting guidelines for care 46% 79.6% 54.7%
Adults ? 18 years, four or more clinic visits 49% 84% 57.7%
Adults ? 18 years, one or more cultures 96% 100% 92.7%
Adults ? 18 years, two or more PFTs 89% 96.6% 82.5%

 

 

Our data is shown compared to the average outcomes reported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for all accredited CF Centers in the US and also against the values reported by those Centers regarded as top 10 performers. (2007 data)