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Evidence summaries

Short-Term Ambulatory Oxygen for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Ambulatory oxygen appears to improve exercise performance in people with moderate to severe COPD. Level of evidence: "B"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 31 studies with a total of 534 subjects. Oxygen improved all pooled outcomes relating to endurance exercise capacity (distance, time, number of steps) and maximal exercise capacity (exercise time and work rate). Data relating to VO2 max could not be pooled and results from the original studies were not consistent. For the secondary outcomes of breathlessness, SaO2 and VE, comparisons were made at isotime. In all studies except two the isotime is defined as the time at which the placebo test ended. Oxygen improved breathlessness, SaO2/PaO2 and VE at isotime with endurance exercise testing. There was no data on breathlessness at isotime with maximal exercise testing. Oxygen improved SaO2/PaO2 and reduced VE at Isotime.

    References

    • Bradley JM, O'Neill B. Short-term ambulatory oxygen for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005;(2):CD004356.

Primary/Secondary Keywords