Hypoxemia in chronic bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema.

The measurement of arterial blood oxygen tension (PaO2) in 54 patients with chronic nonspecific lung disease with a FEV1.0 of 1.51 or less, in a stable clinical state, at rest, indicated subnormal results to be more frequent among "bronchitics" (79 per cent with hypoxemia) than than among "emphysematous" patients (63 per cent with hypoxemia). The patients were classified according to a mixed clinical-roentgenologic-biological "score" (Nash et al., 1965). A significant correlation was found between PaO2 and the "emphysema score" (r=0.36; p less than 0.01). The average PaO2 was significantly (p less than 0.02) lower in "bronchitics" (65.5 +/- 8.8 mmHg; n = 14) as compared to the "emphysema" group (71.8 +/- 5.7; n = 19), in agreement with the data of the literature.