Nocturnal Hypoxemia in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease

Michael J. Thorpy, Charles P. Pollak, David Appel, Elliot D. Weitzman, Venkat G. Tirlapur, M. Afzal Mir, A. Jay Block

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterpeer-review

Abstract

To the Editor: We were interested to read the article by Tirlapur and Mir1 and the accompanying editorial2 in the January 21 issue. Although we agree with the basic premise that nocturnal oxygen therapy may be beneficial in patients with chronic obstructive respiratory disease, and probably in other disorders involving nocturnal and sleep-related hypoxemia, we urge caution in its administration. We recently studied the effect of low-flow oxygen therapy in patients with alveolar hypoventilation, including several who resembled“blue bloaters.”The blue-bloater patients were obese, hypoxic, hypercapnic, and polycythemic but had only mildly impaired daytime respiratory function. During nocturnal polysomnography,. . .

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)123-124
Number of pages2
JournalNew England Journal of Medicine
Volume307
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 8 1982

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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