In this meta-analysis, we systematically reviewed the studies on oxygen therapy and prognosis of COPD patients with simple nocturnal hypoxemia, and finally analyzed five prospective studies. The results showed that oxygen therapy could improve the prognosis of COPD patients with simple nocturnal hypoxemia, but it could not improve the survival rate of patients, control the disease progression to LTOT, and reduce the partial pressure of carbon dioxide.
This study confirmed the results of the study on the prognosis of patients with oxygen therapy and COPD with pure nocturnal hypoxemia. There was no significant difference in the total mortality, LTOT mortality, and LTOT prognosis between the oxygen therapy group and the non-oxygen therapy group. Similar to the results of this study, the meta-analysis of Cranston [16] found that continuous oxygen therapy (at least 15 hours a day) did not seem to improve the survival rate of patients with COPD with simple NOD. The difference is that Cranston [16] did not analyze the mortality and prognosis of LTOT. In Yves Lacasse's [13] study, the end point was total mortality, LTOT mortality, and progression to LTOT. The results showed that the above outcomes could not be improved by oxygen therapy. Yves Lacasse's [13] research comes from multiple centers, with a more complete research scheme and a relatively large sample size, so the level of evidence is also high, which is similar to the results of the above outcome indicators in the meta-analysis results of this study.
This study found that oxygen therapy can improve the PaO2 prognosis of patients with COPD with simple NOD, but there was no significant difference between the two groups at the end of follow-up. Xu et al [15] showed that the number of acute attacks, pulmonary function and arterial blood gas of patients in the oxygen therapy group were significantly improved compared with those in the non-oxygen therapy group. Li et al [14] found that oxygen therapy can improve PaO2, SaO2 and sleep disorders of COPD patients with simple NOD, and delay the progress of lung function through 3-year follow-up. According to Zhang et al [17], pressure support ventilation with biphasic positive pressure mask has obvious effect on improving sleep and respiratory disorder at night and correcting hypoxemia in patients with COPD. However, because the study population is an acute attack population, and the patients were not followed up, they were not included in this meta-analysis. According to the research of Wang et al [7], nocturnal oxygen therapy can correct nocturnal hypoxemia in most COPD patients, and noninvasive continuous positive pressure ventilation can achieve good results in patients with poor efficacy. However, the research population is also acute attack population, and no follow-up was conducted for patients, so it was not included in this meta-analysis.
Heterogeneity analysis: In Xu et al [15] study, there are only upper and lower limits for the age of the subjects, and there is no average age or median age, so it is impossible to judge the age group and distribution of the subjects. In the study of Li et al [14], the age of the subjects was mean ± standard deviation. Xu et al [15] listed the partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide of the subjects before treatment, while Li et al [14] did not mention the level of partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide of the subjects before treatment. The above selection bias or statistical analysis difference may cause the statistical heterogeneity included in the study. Furthermore, the time and duration of oxygen therapy, the selection of oxygen therapy methods, the measures for evaluating the efficacy, and the oxygen therapy methods selected under different conditions are also different. The subjects came from different regions and the duration of follow-up was different.
Limitations of this study: In each study, the average age, age distribution, degree of nocturnal hypoxemia, follow-up time, complications, detection methods, etc. of the subjects are different, which may lead to heterogeneity between different studies. The original studies included may have potential confounding factors. Although some studies use multivariate analysis to reduce confounding bias, the limitations and deficiencies of observational studies cannot avoid confounding bias.
In conclusion, oxygen therapy can improve the prognosis of COPD patients with simple NOD, but oxygen therapy has no significant effect on the survival rate of patients, control the disease progression to LTOT, and reduce the partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Therefore, a larger sample of randomized controlled study is needed to conduct stratified analysis on patients with COPD with simple NOD, and to screen potential populations that may benefit from oxygen therapy.