TY - JOUR
T1 - Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the treatment of long COVID
T2 - early evaluation of a highly promising intervention
AU - Robbins, Tim
AU - Gonevski, Michael
AU - Clark, Cain
AU - Baitule, Sudhanshu
AU - Sharma, Kavi
AU - Magar, Angel
AU - Patel, Kiran
AU - Sankar, Sailesh
AU - Kyrou, Ioannis
AU - Ali, Asad
AU - Randeva, Harpal S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Royal College of Physicians 2021. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12/3
Y1 - 2021/12/3
N2 - Background Long COVID is a common occurrence following COVID-19 infection. The most common symptom reported is fatigue. Limited interventional treatment options exist. We report the first evaluation of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for long COVID treatment. Methods A total of 10 consecutive patients received 10 sessions of HBOT to 2.4 atmospheres over 12 days. Each treatment session lasted 105 minutes, consisting of three 30-minute exposures to 100% oxygen, interspersed with 5-minute air breaks. Validated fatigue and cognitive scoring assessments were performed at day 1 and 10. Statistical analysis was with Wilcoxon signed-rank testing reported alongside effect sizes. Results HBOT yielded a statistically significant improvement in the Chalder fatigue scale (p=0.0059; d=1.75 (very large)), global cognition (p=0.0137; d=–1.07 (large)), executive function (p=0.0039; d=–1.06 (large)), attention (p=0.0020; d=–1.2 (very large)), information processing (p=0.0059; d=–1.25 (very large)) and verbal function (p=0.0098; d=–0.92 (large)). Conclusion Long COVID-related fatigue can be debilitating, and may affect young people who were previously in economic employment. The results presented here suggest potential benefits of HBOT, with statistically significant results following 10 sessions.
AB - Background Long COVID is a common occurrence following COVID-19 infection. The most common symptom reported is fatigue. Limited interventional treatment options exist. We report the first evaluation of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for long COVID treatment. Methods A total of 10 consecutive patients received 10 sessions of HBOT to 2.4 atmospheres over 12 days. Each treatment session lasted 105 minutes, consisting of three 30-minute exposures to 100% oxygen, interspersed with 5-minute air breaks. Validated fatigue and cognitive scoring assessments were performed at day 1 and 10. Statistical analysis was with Wilcoxon signed-rank testing reported alongside effect sizes. Results HBOT yielded a statistically significant improvement in the Chalder fatigue scale (p=0.0059; d=1.75 (very large)), global cognition (p=0.0137; d=–1.07 (large)), executive function (p=0.0039; d=–1.06 (large)), attention (p=0.0020; d=–1.2 (very large)), information processing (p=0.0059; d=–1.25 (very large)) and verbal function (p=0.0098; d=–0.92 (large)). Conclusion Long COVID-related fatigue can be debilitating, and may affect young people who were previously in economic employment. The results presented here suggest potential benefits of HBOT, with statistically significant results following 10 sessions.
KW - Fatigue
KW - Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
KW - Long COVID
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121664321&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0462
DO - 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0462
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121664321
SN - 1470-2118
VL - 21
SP - E629-E632
JO - Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
JF - Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
IS - 6
ER -