
Mortality/morbidity: acutely ill adults liberal vs. conservative Oxygen Tx(2018) - taxicabjesus
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)30479-3/fulltext
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taxicabjesus
The full title of this submission is "Mortality and morbidity in acutely ill
adults treated with liberal versus conservative oxygen therapy (IOTA): a
systematic review and meta-analysis (2018)". Hopefully my shortening to fit in
the box was appropriate.

The conclusion is that excess oxygen worsens patients' outcomes:

> Interpretation

> In acutely ill adults, high-quality evidence shows that liberal oxygen
> therapy increases mortality without improving other patient-important
> outcomes. Supplemental oxygen might become unfavourable above an SpO 2 range
> of 94–96%. These results support the conservative administration of oxygen
> therapy.

I just read an essay about how a nursing home patient rapidly deteriorated
after being sent to the hospital [0]. When I read between the lines, it seems
the patient (who previously had a stroke, and was sent from her nursing home
for evaluation) rapidly deteriorated due to being over-oxygenated at the
hospital. The essayist didn't give the patients' outcome, but I'd wager the
patient is now a statistic.

Many other super-virus casualties might've survived if more doctors were
familiar with this study, and instead used indicated drugs to help the body
use oxygen efficiently.

I read recently that ventilating patients increases the amount of work
required to keep them alive by 100x. Two other recent submissions were about
how less-aggressive approaches to ventilation have been somewhat more
successful [2] [3].

If the doctors combine their newfound reluctance to ventilate with more
conservative oxygen strategies [4], maybe the medical professionals will be
able to declare a victory against this year's super-virus.

[0] When This War Is Over, Many of Us Will Leave Medicine -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22992488](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22992488)

[2] UChicago doctors see ‘remarkable’ success using ventilator alternatives -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22977076](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22977076)

[3] As virus advances, doctors rethink rush to ventilate -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22955094](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22955094)

[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity#Mechanism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity#Mechanism)

[minor edits & added titles to [2] and [3]]

