What Researchers Did
Swedish researchers randomly assigned 23 critically ill COVID-19 patients with moderate ARDS to receive either 5 HBOT sessions at 2.4 ATA for 80 minutes (within the first 7 days) plus standard care, or standard care alone, then analyzed blood cell gene activity.
What They Found
HBOT patients recovered faster and spent an average of 16 days in hospital compared to 26 days for controls (p = 0.045). HBOT also triggered a unique pattern of 791 gene changes related to how cells handle stress from viral infection. Oxygen levels in the blood improved significantly in the HBOT group.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
For COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital with breathing failure, HBOT could shorten hospital stays by 10 days on average. The molecular evidence suggests HBOT does not just improve oxygen levels but actually changes how the immune system responds to the virus.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
This was a small exploratory sub-study (17 patients analyzed), and the results need to be confirmed in a larger trial before changing clinical practice.