Eficácia e padrões de utilização da oxigenoterapia de deambulação – experiência de um hospital universitário

AbstractAimsTo determine patterns of ambulatory oxygen (AO) use among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung diseases, and analyze the effects of this therapy on daily activities and quality of life (QoL).Patients and methodsWe included 37 consecutive adult patients on AO by liquid O2 for more than three months prescribed by hospital pulmonologists. The acute response to O2 was evaluated through the standardized 6-minutes walk test (6MWT) and the Borg dyspnea scale during the O2 pre-intervention trial. Time spent away from home, compliance, side effects and QoL (SF-36 v1 questionnaire) were evaluated by a telephone interview during the follow-up period. Time spent away from home and QoL comparisons after and before the intervention were assessed retrospectively.ResultsCOPD was the most frequent diagnosis (54%), and 29 (78%) patients were already on long-term oxygen therapy. In relation to the acute response to O2 evaluated through the 6MWT, there were significant improvements in the distance walked (p<0.001), in resting SatO2 (p<0.001), in minimal SatO2 (p<0.001), and in percentage of desaturation (p=0.002), independently of the diagnosis. No differences were observed in Borg dyspnea scale. AO was used for a mean of 4.1h/day. Patients spent fewer hours per day away from home after AO treatment (3.5h vs. 5.0h, p