The following is a summary of “Effect of hydrogen/oxygen therapy for ordinary COVID-19 patients: a propensity-score matched case-control study,” published in the June 2023 issue of Infectious Diseases by Zeng et al.
Hydrogen/oxygen therapy can help improve respiratory symptoms and slow disease progression in people with respiratory diseases. For a study, researchers hypothesized that hydrogen/oxygen therapy could shorten hospital stays and increase the discharge rate for COVID-19 patients.
A study of 180 COVID-19 patients compared hydrogen/oxygen therapy with oxygen therapy. Patients were matched using propensity score matching, with 33 patients receiving hydrogen/oxygen therapy and 55 receiving oxygen. The primary endpoint was the length of hospitalization. Secondary endpoints were hospital discharge rates and oxygen saturation (SpO2). Findings confirmed Hydrogen/oxygen therapy was associated with a shorter median length of hospitalization (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.91; 95% [CIs], 1.25–2.92; P< 0.05) (12 days; 95% CI, 9–15 vs. 13 days 95% CI, 11–20) than oxygen therapy. The hydrogen/oxygen group also had higher hospital discharge rates at 21 days (93.9% vs. 74.5%; P< 0.05) and 28 days (97.0% vs. 85.5%; P< 0.05). After 5 days of therapy, patients in the hydrogen/oxygen group had higher SpO2 levels ((98.5% ± 0.56% vs. 97.8% ± 1.0%; P< 0.001).In a subgroup analysis of patients who received hydrogen/oxygen therapy, those younger than 55 years (P= 0.028) old and those who did not have comorbidities (P= 0.002) had a shorter length of hospitalization (median 10 days).
The study concluded that Hydrogen/oxygen therapy may shorten hospital stays and improve SpO2 in COVID-19 patients. Younger or healthier patients may benefit more.
Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-023-08424-4
