[Oxygen therapy in hospitalized patients : What are the indications? What are the targets?]

Oxygen therapy is a common intervention in the hospital setting, although the optimal oxygen saturation targets remain a matter of debate given the lack of strong evidence supporting them. Most studies have been carried out in critical care units and prehospital settings, with variable SpO2 targets and inconsistent results which explain the variability of international guidelines. This article describes a pragmatic and critical perspective on oxygen therapy targets based on pathophysiological insights and recent clinical trials. It recommends an indication of oxygen therapy when SpO2 is < 90 % at rest for all patients, with a maximum SpO2 under oxygen therapy of 94-96 % for patients without chronic respiratory pathology and 93 % for those at risk of hypercapnia.