Wider home oxygen therapy 'could save thousands of COPD patients'
Thousands of lives could be saved each year if home oxygen therapy was more widespread among those who suffer with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), a study has suggested.
Research conducted by Dr Richard Mularski on behalf of RAND Health, published in the journal Chest, found that just 32 per cent of patients in the US with baseline hypoxia receive home oxygen therapy for routine management.
The author and his team examined medical records of participants from 12 communities across the US between 2004 and 2006.
"From estimates of the numbers of hypoxic patients in the United States and the mortality reduction demonstrated from the Nocturnal Oxygen Therapy Trial, 27,000 to 54,000 annual deaths may have been reduced by appropriate oxygen use," he concluded.
In the March issue of American Family Physician, Dr Ann Evenson of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, stated that those suffering from COPD should be given oxygen treatment in order to improve their symptoms.
Posted by Stewart Elliott
25/05/2010 17:39:38
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