Eur Respir J. 1991 Feb;4(2):227-31.
In France, 12,000 patients receive long-term oxygen therapy at home supplied by oxygen concentrators (OCs) which are provided by a non-profit organization, the National Home Treatment for Respiratory Insufficiency Association (ANTADIR--31 regional associations). OCs are regularly checked at home by technicians from the associations. Technical data, oxygen fraction (Fo2) supplied at working flow-rate and working duration, were recorded by technicians only during the planned home controls. Data were collected from January 15th to February 15th, 1988. Twenty three associations taking care of more than 10,000 OCs participated in the study. 2,414 machines of six different brands were controlled in the study. 77.5% of OCs had a working duration of less than 15,000 h (about 3 yrs). Working flow-rate of OCs was equal to or lower than 2 l.min-1 in 79.2% of cases. Mean Fo2 of the 2,414 measurements was equal to 92 +/- 6%. Three quarters of OCs had an Fo2 equal to or higher than the Fo2 predicted by the manufacturers. Less than 0.3% of machines were out of order (Fo2 less than or equal to 50%). We observed a significant progressive decrease in measured Fo2 in relation to flow-rate and working duration (analysis of variance (ANOVA) 2: p less than 0.001): the higher the flow-rate and the longer the working duration, the lower the Fo2. We conclude that supply of used OCs has to be avoided when the prescribed flow-rate is high, and that systematic technical checks are essential to keep OCs in good working order.
在法国，12000名患者在家中接受由制氧机提供的长期氧疗，这些制氧机由一个非营利组织——国家呼吸功能不全家庭治疗协会（ANTADIR，31个地区协会）提供。协会的技术人员会定期上门检查制氧机。技术数据，即工作流量和工作时长下供应的氧浓度（Fo2），仅在计划中的上门检查时由技术人员记录。数据收集时间为1988年1月15日至2月15日。23个负责10000多台制氧机的协会参与了该研究。研究中对6个不同品牌的2414台机器进行了检查。77.5%的制氧机工作时长少于15000小时（约3年）。79.2%的情况下，制氧机的工作流量等于或低于2升/分钟。2414次测量的平均Fo2为92±6%。四分之三的制氧机的Fo2等于或高于制造商预测的Fo2。不到0.3%的机器出现故障（Fo2小于或等于50%）。我们观察到，测量的Fo2随流量和工作时长显著逐渐下降（方差分析（ANOVA）：p<0.001）：流量越高、工作时长越长，Fo2越低。我们得出结论，当规定流量较高时，必须避免供应二手制氧机，并且系统的技术检查对于保持制氧机良好运行至关重要。
