Open AccessChanges in blood hemoglobin and blood gases PaO2 and PaCO2 in severe COPD over a three-year telemonitored program of long-term oxygen treatment
Author(s) -
Roberto W. Dal Negro,
Silvia Tognella,
Luca Bonadiman,
Paola Turco
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
multidisciplinary respiratory medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.72
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 2049-6958
pISSN - 1828-695X
DOI - 10.4081/mrm.2012.602
Subject(s) - medicine , copd , hemoglobin , cohort , arterial blood , anesthesia
Background: Information on the effects of long-term oxygen treatment (LTOT) on blood hemoglobin (Hb) in severe COPD are limited. The aim was to assess blood Hb values in severe COPD, and investigate the time-course of both Hb and blood gas changes during a 3-year telemetric LTOT. Methods: A cohort of 132 severe COPD patients (94 males; 71.4 years ± 8.8 sd), newly admitted to the tele-LTOT program, was investigated. Subjects were divided according to their original blood Hb: group A: 15 g/dl (ANOVA p<0.001); anemic subjects (Hb<13 g/dl) ameliorated not significantly in the same period (ANOVA = 0.5). Survival was independent of the original blood Hb. Anemia and polyglobulia are differently prevalent in COPD, the latter being the most represented in our cohort. LTOT affected both conditions, but to a different extent and according to different time-courses. The most striking Hb improvement was in polyglobulic patients in whom also PaO2, PaCO2 and SaO2 dramatically improved. In anemic subjects effects were smaller and slower, oxygenation being equally ameliorated by LTOT. Conclusions: LTOT effects on Hb and PaCO2 are regulated by an Hb-dependent gradient which seems independent of the original impairment of blood gases and of effects on oxygenation.