Does palliative home oxygen improve dyspnea?

A consecutive cohort study. Palliat Med 2009; 23(4): 309-316. Palliative oxygen for refractory dyspnea is frequently prescribed, even when the criteria for long-term home oxygen (based on survival, rather than the symptomatic relief of breathlessness) are not met.

Little is known about how palliative home oxygen affects symptomatic breathlessness. A 4-year consecutive cohort from a regional community palliative care service in Western Australia was used to compare baseline breathlessness before oxygen therapy with dyspnea sub-scales on the symptom assessment scores (SAS; 0-10) 1 and 2 weeks after the introduction of oxygen. Demographic and clinical characteristics of people who responded were included in a multi-variable logistic regression model.

Of the study population (n = 5862), 21.1% (n = 1239) were prescribed oxygen of whom 413 had before and after data that could be included in this analysis. The mean breathlessness before home oxygen was 5.3 (SD 2.5; median 5; range 0-10). ... more.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.