What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted a longitudinal follow-up study on 31 long COVID patients who previously received hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to assess the long-term effects one year after treatment.
What They Found
They found that improvements in quality of life, sleep quality (effect sizes 0.47-0.79), and neuropsychiatric symptoms observed immediately after HBOT persisted one year later. Significant improvements in pain severity (effect size 0.69) and pain interference (effect size 0.83) also endured long-term.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
Canadian patients with long COVID experiencing persistent symptoms like cognitive issues, fatigue, and pain might find lasting relief from hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This suggests HBOT could be a valuable long-term treatment option for managing post-COVID conditions.
Canadian Relevance
This study has no direct Canadian connection.
Study Limitations
A limitation is the relatively small sample size of 31 patients in this longitudinal follow-up, which may limit generalizability.