Home oxygen therapy duration of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia in East of England

Abstract

The rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and home oxygen therapy (HOT) duration varies between institutions. There are a number of advantages to HOT and a structured oxygen weaning plan using nocturnal oximetry leads to shorter HOT duration. Discontinuation of HOT is associated with improved parental quality of life. This was retrospective analysis of HOT duration in infants with BPD between 2019-2021 in the East of England (EoE). The aim was to assess the impact of Covid-19 pandemic in duration of HOT. Data was obtained from electronic medical records and the Home Oxygen Order Form from British Oxygen Company. 101 infants with BPD that were discharged on HOT between 2019 and 2021 in EoE. The median gestational age (GA) in weeks at birth (IQR) was 26 (25-28), median GA in weeks at discharge from NICU was 33 weeks (30-39), median oxygen flow in L/min at discharge was 0.05 (0.01-0.2) and median age in years when HOT stopped was 0.94 (0.553-1.17). There was no significant difference when comparing these characteristics in each year separately.  HOT duration was longer in 2020 compared to 2019 and 2021 (Table 1).  This was significant when comparing 2019 and 2021 combined with 2020 (328 Vs 277 days, p=0.0232). Table 1: Number of infants discharged each year on HOT, with % ongoing treatment, mortality and HOT duration. In summary, we observed an increase in HOT duration in infants with BPD in 2020, which returned to pre-pandemic level in 2021.