Domiciliary oxygen for interstitial lung disease

Abstract

Retrospective survival data have suggested poor effectiveness of oxygen therapy in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). To determine the effect of domiciliary oxygen therapy on survival and quality of life in patients with a diagnosis of ILD and hypoxaemia. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) were identified using the Cochrane Airways Group register and the search terms: (home OR domiciliary AND oxygen AND (Interstitial lung disease OR ILD OR pulmonary fibrosis OR IPF)). Any randomized controlled trial (RCT) in adult patients with hypoxaemia and ILD that compared long term domiciliary or home oxygen therapy with a control group. Only one unpublished RCT was identified. Only one trial was identified. Mortality for both the oxygen treated and control groups was approximately 91% after 3 years (Peto odds ratio 0.99, 95% confidence intervals 0.16,6.26). The effect of oxygen therapy on quality of life and physiological parameters was not reported. The assumption that home oxygen therapy has a beneficial survival effect in patients with ILD has not been demonstrated in the single RCT identified.