© Yvonne Åsell / SvD / TT
Oxygen deficiency has been a concern in many countries during the pandemic. Photo gallery.
A Swedish study shows that COVID-19 patients may need less oxygen than previously thought. Knowledge can help reduce the risks of hypoxia in hospitals.
The lack of oxygen was a disaster in many countries during the epidemic and caused many deaths.
One of the difficulties was planning how to distribute oxygen between different hospitals and wards, as there were no studies on how much oxygen a Covid-19 patient actually needed.
Researchers are now connected to this Uppsala University Examined in a new study. It covers all patients in Sörmland who had oxygen that made them need oxygen, but not respiratory care during the pandemic’s first wave – a total of 126 patients.
The care staff continuously checked the oxygen and improved the oxygen flow, and all modifications were carefully documented.
The result presented in the magazine plus one, shows that patients require much less oxygen than the scale used by the World Health Organization for the patient group.
Says Anna Hvarfner, MD, PhD, of the Clinical Research Center in Västmanland affiliated with Uppsala University.
Oxygen is the most important treatment for severe COVID-19, as the lungs cannot extract oxygen from the air.
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