[Long-term oxygen therapy--impact on the quality of life in persons with chronic obstructive lung disease]

Chronic bronchopenumopathies are today a real public health problem. They are mainly due to tobacco, and during their development, they generate a heavy handicap. At an advanced stage, the patient develops a respiratory insufficiency and then requires a substitution treatment: long lasting oxygen therapy. The study we have just carried out shows that such a treatment enabling to prolong life is not totally justified as an improvement of life quality. Indeed, it seems to aggravate the constraints engendered by the disease itself. A training on the place of prescription, the development of hospital-home care service networks and patients associations, would perhaps allow a better acceptance and adaptation to the treatment (these suggestions could be the subject of future research). Likewise, it might be interesting to ponder over the impact of making the general public and the smokers sensitive to such a condition and to the handicap it generates.