Fig. 5

Kaplan-Meier analysis grouped by the normalized levels of the baseline serum EV miR-21-5p. a The solid line shows the group of IPF patients that had baseline serum EV miR-21-5p levels above the median level of EV miR-21-5p (2.1 copies/SI). The dashed line shows the group of IPF patients that had baseline serum EV miR-21-5p levels below the median level. The patients with the higher serum EV miR-21-5p levels showed higher mortality during the 30-month follow-up period (p = 0.01). b The solid line shows the group of IPF patients that had the top-quartile baseline serum EV miR-21-5p levels (≥4 copies/SI, n = 10). The dashed line shows the group of IPF patients that had baseline serum EV miR-21-5p levels below four copies/SI (n = 31). The patients who had serum EV miR-21-5p levels in the top-quartile showed higher mortality during the 30-month follow-up period (p = 0.0004). The dots represent cases that were censored because of failure to visit the hospital. The entire population (n = 41) contained nine censored patients