What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted a longitudinal study of 100 consecutive admissions for carbon monoxide poisoning at the Royal Adelaide Hospital between 1986 and 1989.
What They Found
Twenty-five percent of patients left the hospital with persistent symptoms, and 32% (24 of 76) showed obvious neuropsychiatric sequelae at one-month follow-up. Patients receiving two or more hyperbaric oxygen treatments had significantly lower sequelae rates (13% on discharge, 18% at one month, P less than 0.005) compared to those receiving fewer or no hyperbaric oxygen treatments, and delaying treatment also significantly increased sequelae (P less than 0.05).
What This Means for Canadian Patients
This study suggests that prompt and multiple hyperbaric oxygen treatments could reduce long-term neurological complications from carbon monoxide poisoning. Canadian patients experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning might benefit from timely access to hyperbaric oxygen therapy to improve their recovery outcomes.
Canadian Relevance
This study has no direct Canadian connection as it was conducted in Australia.
Study Limitations
A limitation of the study was the significant number of patients (24%) who did not attend for their one-month follow-up review.