Abstract

Abstract Introduction Oxygen therapy is a mainstream treatment for many cardiopulmonary disease processes in the United States with COPD being most common. Despite various warnings against smoking on oxygen therapy, some patients continue to smoke on oxygen and sustain burn-related injuries. These patients are frequently intubated due to concern for inhalation injury. We aim to characterize the injury patterns, morbidities, and mortalities associated with burns sustained while on oxygen therapy at home. We hypothesize that the prevalence of these injuries is underrecognized. Methods We performed a retrospective review of all patients ≥45 years of age admitted to our regional burn center from 10/2018-4/2019. Injuries related to smoking on home oxygen were isolated and patient and injury characteristics are described. Results A total of 143 patients were included in this review, 20 patients (15%) had injuries related to smoking on home oxygen. Patient and injury characteristics are described in Table 1. Notably, 25% of patients were intubated and none of those patients had an inhalation injury documented on bronchoscopy. Four patients were extubated within a day of admission & one patient was extubated on hospital day 2. No patient died in the hospital. Nine patients (45%) required an escalation of care in the post-acute care period. Conclusions Smoking on home oxygen is an underrated problem and better education is needed for both patients receiving the therapy and providers prescribing the therapy. Due to the mechanism, inhalation injury is rare though a significant percentage of patients continue to receive prophylactic intubation.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.