Extract
Oxygen therapy remains a crucial intervention in critical care. One of the core aspects in oxygen therapy concerns the optimal oxygenation level, which is commonly measured in the form of partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2). Multiple randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been performed to investigate different oxygenation goals in critical care [1, 2]. However, one important challenge, as demonstrated by a recent network meta-analysis [2], is that most RCTs only compared two oxygenation levels that differed across studies, making it difficult to determine an optimal oxygenation goal [2]. While several meta-analyses have been performed, most have dichotomised oxygenation goals into liberal (i.e. targeting a higher oxygenation level) versus conservative (i.e. targeting a lower oxygenation level): a relatively qualitative oversimplification of the problem [3, 4]. Therefore, further investigations are needed to determine a more quantitative optimal oxygenation goal.
Abstract
Maintaining PaO2 in the 70–150 mmHg range might lead to improved survival, compared to a PaO2 outside of this range, in critically ill patients receiving oxygen therapy. Different PaO2 targets in the 70–150 mmHg range might not lead to different outcomes. https://bit.ly/3zTngq6
Acknowledgements
We thank the ICU-ROX investigators for sharing their mortality results assessed under different criteria. We thank the support provided by institutional and/or departmental sources.
Footnotes
Author contributions: Concept and design: L. Meng and X. Zhao. Acquisition, analysis, and/or interpretation of data: all authors. Drafting of the manuscript: L. Meng and X. Zhao. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: all authors. Statistical analysis: L. Meng and X. Zhao. Administrative, technical, or material support: L. Meng and X. Zhao. Supervision: L. Meng.
Conflict of interest: L. Meng has received consultancy fees from Edwards Lifesciences.
Conflict of interest: X. Zhao declares no competing interests.
Conflict of interest: E. Fan reports personal fees from ALung Technologies, Baxter, Boehringer Ingelheim, GE Healthcare and Vasomune, outside the submitted work.
- Received October 1, 2021.
- Accepted December 29, 2021.
- Copyright ©The authors 2022. For reproduction rights and permissions contact permissions{at}ersnet.org