Domiciliary High-Flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen Therapy for Patients with Stable Hypercapnic Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary...

A growing evidence base suggests a benefit of using high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy in the acute setting. However, the clinical benefit of domiciliary use of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy in patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remains unclear.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy use in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We conducted a multicenter, randomized crossover trial comparing high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy plus long-term oxygen therapy with long-term oxygen therapy only in 32 adults with stable hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Participants were randomized to receive either 6 weeks of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy/long-term oxygen therapy using the myAIRVO 2 device followed by another 6 weeks of long-term oxygen therapy only or long-term oxygen therapy only followed by high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy/long-term oxygen therapy. The primary outcome was the change in quality of life as assessed by St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A linear mixed-effects model was used to account for treatment effect, time effect, allocation effect, and participant effect.

Of 32 study participants, 29 completed the study. At the end of 12 weeks, high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy/long-term oxygen therapy treatment improved the mean total St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease score compared with long-term oxygen therapy only (7.8 points; 95% confidence interval, 3.7 to 11.9; P < 0.01). Similarly, high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy/long-term oxygen therapy treatment improved the arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (adjusted treatment effect, -4.1 mm Hg; 95% confidence interval, -6.5 to -1.7 mm Hg), pH (adjusted treatment effect, +0.02; 95% confidence interval, 0.01 to 0.02), and median nocturnal transcutaneous carbon dioxide pressure (adjusted treatment effect, -5.1 mm Hg; 95% confidence interval, -8.4 to -1.8 mm Hg). High-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy/long-term oxygen therapy treatment did not improve the arterial partial pressure of oxygen, dyspnea, spirometry, lung volume, 6-minute walk test, or physical activity. The most frequent high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy-related adverse event encountered was nocturnal sweating (n = 6 [20.7%]). Four severe adverse events occurred (two in each group) and were deemed unrelated to the intervention.

Six weeks of treatment with high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy improved health-related quality of life and reduced hypercapnia in patients with stable hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02545855) and www.umin/ac.jp (UMIN000017639).