Alamy
Home oxygen therapy is known to improve survival in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but its effect on symptoms in patients with less-severe disease is unclear.
To investigate, Amy Abernethy, from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues performed a meta-analysis of 18 trials of oxygen therapy in 431 patients with mild or non-hypoxemia COPD, who would not qualify for home oxygen.
The researchers found that continuous oxygen during exertion, but not short-burst therapy, significantly reduced the distressing symptom of dyspnoea, with a clinically relevant treatment effect.
“Data from adequately powered clinical trials, including studies on cost-effectiveness, risk of possible hyperoxia-related adverse effects and fires, and future meta-analyses are needed,” the researchers write in Thorax
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(online, 3 December 2014).
