Effect of Nocturnal Oxygen Therapy on Daytime Pulmonary Hemodynamics in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Traveling to Altitude: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

We investigated whether nocturnal oxygen therapy (NOT) mitigates the increase of pulmonary artery pressure in patients during daytime with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) traveling to altitude. Patients with COPD living below 800 m underwent examinations at 490 m and during two sojourns at 2,048 m (with a washout period of 2 weeks < 800 m between altitude sojourns). During nights at altitude, patients received either NOT (3 L/min) or placebo (ambient air 3 L/min) via nasal cannula according to a randomized crossover design. The main outcomes were the tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient (TRPG) measured by echocardiography on the second day at altitude (under ambient air) and various other echocardiographic measures of the right and left heart function. Patients fulfilling predefined safety criteria were withdrawn from the study. Twenty-three COPD patients [70% Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) II/30% GOLD III, mean ± SD age 66 ± 5 years, FEV In lowlanders with COPD remaining free of clinically relevant altitude-related adverse health effects, changes in daytime pulmonary hemodynamics during a stay at high altitude were trivial and not modified by NOT. www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT02150590.

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Copyright © 2021 Lichtblau, Latshang, Aeschbacher, Huber, Scheiwiller, Ulrich, Schneider, Hasler, Furian, Bloch, Saxer and Ulrich.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

SiU reports grants from Orpha Swiss and Actelion SA, and personal fees from Actelion SA, MSD, and Orpha Swiss, outside the submitted work. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.