Ambulatory oxygen for treatment of exertional hypoxaemia in pulmonary fibrosis (PFOX): a multicentre, randomised, sham-controlled trial - PubMed

4 hours ago

Ambulatory oxygen therapy was tested for treating exertional hypoxaemia in fibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD).
The study was a multicentre, randomised, sham-controlled trial conducted in Australia and Sweden.
Participants were aged ≥18 with fibrotic ILD and isolated exertional hypoxaemia (SpO2 ≤88% on 6-min walk test).
116 participants were randomly assigned to ambulatory oxygen or ambulatory air (sham) groups.
No significant difference was found in physical activity (mean steps per day) between the two groups at 3 months.
There were no serious adverse events related to the study treatments.
Ambulatory oxygen did not provide benefits over ambulatory air for physical activity in daily life.
Routine prescription of ambulatory oxygen for fibrotic ILD with exertional hypoxaemia might not be indicated.
The study highlights the need for innovation in portable oxygen devices.
Funding was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) and Swedish Society of Medicine.

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