What Researchers Did
Researchers conducted an interim safety analysis of a randomised controlled trial (HOT-LoCO) to evaluate the safety of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) for long COVID.
What They Found
Twenty randomised subjects with long COVID exhibited significantly lower health-related quality of life (mean PF 31.75 vs 83.5 in norm data) and physical performance (mean 6MWT 442 meters vs 662 meters in norm data) compared to normative data. A total of 31 adverse events occurred in 60% of subjects, with 20 potentially related to HBO therapy, most commonly cough and chest pain or discomfort, though the Data Safety Monitoring Board deemed the therapy safe enough to continue.
Canadian Relevance
This study has no direct Canadian connection as it was not conducted in Canada or by Canadian researchers.
Study Limitations
This interim safety report is limited by its small sample size of 20 subjects and focuses solely on safety, not efficacy.