Center for Clinical Research Dalarna, Uppsala University, Falun, Sweden.
Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2022 Jan 20;17(1):e0249984. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249984. eCollection 2022.
Oxygen is a low-cost and life-saving therapy for patients with COVID-19. Yet, it is a limited resource in many hospitals in low income countries and in the 2020 pandemic even hospitals in richer countries reported oxygen shortages. An accurate understanding of oxygen requirements is needed for capacity planning. The World Health Organization estimates the average flow-rate of oxygen to severe COVID-19-patients to be 10 l/min. However, there is a lack of empirical data about the oxygen provision to patients. This study aimed to estimate the oxygen provision to COVID-19 patients with severe disease in a Swedish district hospital. A retrospective, medical records-based cohort study was conducted in March to May 2020 in a Swedish district hospital. All adult patients with severe COVID-19 -those who received oxygen in the ward and had no ICU-admission during their hospital stay-were included. Data were collected on the oxygen flow-rates provided to the patients throughout their hospital stay, and summary measures of oxygen provision calculated. One-hundred and twenty-six patients were included, median age was 70 years and 43% were female. On admission, 27% had a peripheral oxygen saturation of ≤91% and 54% had a respiratory rate of ≥25/min. The mean oxygen flow-rate to patients while receiving oxygen therapy was 3.0 l/min (SD 2.9) and the mean total volume of oxygen provided per patient admission was 16,000 l (SD 23,000). In conclusion, the provision of oxygen to severely ill COVID-19-patients was lower than previously estimated. Further research is required before global estimates are adjusted.
氧气是治疗 COVID-19 患者的一种低成本、救生疗法。然而，在许多低收入国家的医院以及在 2020 年大流行期间，即使是较富裕国家的医院也报告氧气短缺。准确了解氧气需求对于能力规划是必要的。世界卫生组织估计，重症 COVID-19 患者的平均氧气流量为 10 升/分钟。然而，关于患者提供氧气的数据缺乏经验。本研究旨在估计瑞典一家地区医院严重 COVID-19 患者的氧气供应情况。这是一项 2020 年 3 月至 5 月在瑞典一家地区医院进行的回顾性、基于病历的队列研究。所有在病房接受氧气治疗且住院期间未入住 ICU 的重症 COVID-19 成年患者均被纳入研究。收集了患者住院期间提供的氧气流量数据，并计算了氧气供应的汇总指标。共纳入 126 例患者，中位年龄为 70 岁，43%为女性。入院时，27%的患者外周血氧饱和度≤91%，54%的患者呼吸频率≥25/分钟。接受氧疗的患者的平均氧气流量为 3.0 升/分钟（SD 2.9），每位患者入院时平均提供的氧气总量为 16000 升（SD 23000）。总之，向重症 COVID-19 患者提供的氧气量低于先前估计。在全球估计值进行调整之前，需要进一步研究。
