What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the impact of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on treatment failure in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
What They Found
Out of 720 COVID-19 patients, 27 received HBOT and 693 did not. The HBOT group experienced no treatment failure events, compared to 36 events in the non-HBOT group. After inverse probability of treatment weighting, the hazard ratio for treatment failure in the HBOT group was less than 0.001 (p<0.001).
What This Means for Canadian Patients
Canadian patients with COVID-19 might potentially benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy as an adjunctive treatment to reduce the risk of severe outcomes like ICU transfer or mortality. This therapy could offer a new approach to improve recovery and lessen the burden of severe COVID-19.
Canadian Relevance
This study was not conducted in Canada and does not include Canadian participants or healthcare settings.
Study Limitations
The study's retrospective design and the small number of patients receiving HBOT (n=27) limit the generalizability and strength of the findings.