Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the use of high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula reduced the need for invasive mechanical ventilation and sped up recovery compared to conventional oxygen therapy, according to research published Dec. 7 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers analyzed the outcomes of 199 COVID-19 patients in the emergency and intensive care units across three Columbian hospitals from August 2020 to January 2021 and followed them through Feb. 10, 2021. About half were given high-flow oxygen and half were assigned conventional oxygen therapy.
About 34.3 percent of patients receiving high-flow oxygen were intubated, compared to 51 percent of those on conventional oxygen therapy. The median time to recover among the high-flow oxygen cohort was lower at 11 days compared to 14 days for patients receiving conventional oxygen therapy.
"Among patients with severe COVID-19, use of high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula significantly decreased need for mechanical ventilation support and time to clinical recovery compared with conventional low-flow oxygen therapy," researchers concluded.