Chest
Original ResearchCOPDPatterns of Domestic Activity and Ambulatory Oxygen Usage in COPD
Section snippets
Patient Recruitment
Clinically stable patients with COPD (FEV1 < 50% of predicted) were entered into a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of cylinder oxygen vs cylinder air. Patients had completed a 7-week pulmonary rehabilitation program prior to the study to maximize physical function.
Inclusion Criteria
Inclusion criteria were patients who were hypoxic at rest, were receiving LTOT, or demonstrated exercise-induced desaturation. The latter was accepted as arterial oxygen desaturation > 4% below 90% on a standard
Patient Characteristics
Fifty-two patients were initially screened, and the study profile is shown in Figure 1. Forty-two patients completed all walk tests. Twelve patients withdrew after the initial walk tests. Thirty patients were randomized to the 8-week home study, during which 9 patients withdrew and 1 patient died. The main reasons why patients withdrew from the study include having an exacerbation and the weight and lack of esthetics of the cylinder. One patient withdrew because he believed there was no
Discussion
The results of this study suggest that ambulatory oxygen therapy does not in the short term increase domestic activity or time spent outside the home. However, the gradual increase in oxygen cylinder usage suggests that there is an unrecognized benefit from ambulatory oxygen that may take some time to become evident. Also, there was no difference in health status between before and after intervention for either group.
Physical activity monitors represent an opportunity to examine domestic
Conclusion
In conclusion, an 8-week, randomized, double-blind controlled study of ambulatory oxygen following a 7-week pulmonary rehabilitation program did not significantly improve total physical activity or HRQL. However there was a gradual increase in the use of cylinder oxygen over the 8 weeks. There are likely to be some benefits to the use of ambulatory oxygen to explain the increased usage. The nature of this benefit of ambulatory oxygen remains unclear; however, they may be subtle and take time to
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge Air Products for the supply of cylinders.
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2014, Journal of the Formosan Medical AssociationCitation Excerpt :A study conducted with limited data from the French ANTADIR registry advocates the use of liquid oxygen for selected patients who wish to be mobile.8 In the United States, a liquid oxygen system is used to improve patient's mobility.27 We compared our data to those of a 1991–1992 home oxygen therapy study among US Medicare beneficiaries. 23
Efficacy and patterns of ambulatory oxygen usage – experience of a university hospital
2011, Revista Portuguesa de Pneumologia (English Edition)Citation Excerpt :Patient perspectives about the use of AO should be taken into account and it is interesting that 4 patients said that they would never leave their home without oxygen, although this point was not included in the questionnaire. Their experience may be attributed to a learned oxygen-related decrease in exertional dyspnea in daily activities, despite dyspnea relief was not sensed in 6MWT.9 As suggested by other studies, a placebo effect cannot be excluded.27
This research was performed in the Department of Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK.
NRR data provider: University Hospital of Leicester NHS Trust.
The authors have no conflicts of interest concerning this research to disclose.
Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml).