Is oxygen therapy beneficial for normoxemic patients with acute heart failure? A propensity score matched study

BACKGROUND: The clinical efficiency of routine oxygen therapy is uncertain in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) who do not have hypoxemia. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between oxygen therapy and clinical outcomes in normoxemic patients hospitalized with AHF using real-world data. METHODS: Normoxemic patients diagnosed with AHF on ICU admission from the electronic ICU (eICU) Collaborative Research Database were included in the current study, in which the study population was divided into the oxygen therapy group and the ambient-air group. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to create a balanced covariate distribution between patients receiving supplemental oxygen and those exposed to ambient air. Linear regression and logistic regression models were performed to assess the associations between oxygen therapy and length of stay (LOS), and all-cause in-hospital as well as ICU mortality rates, respectively. A series of sensitivity and subgroup analyses were conducted to further validate the robustness of our findings. RESULTS: A total of 2922 normoxemic patients with AHF were finally included in the analysis. Overall, 42.1% (1230/2922) patients were exposed to oxygen therapy, and 57.9% (1692/2922) patients did not receive oxygen therapy (defined as the ambient-air group). After PSM analysis, 1122 pairs of patients were matched: each patient receiving oxygen therapy was matched with a patient without receiving supplemental oxygen. The multivariable logistic model showed that there was no significant interaction between the ambient air and oxygen group for all-cause in-hospital mortality [odds ratio (OR) 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.92–1.82; P = 0.138] or ICU mortality (OR 1.39; 95% CI 0.83–2.32; P = 0.206) in the post-PSM cohorts. In addition, linear regression analysis revealed that oxygen therapy was associated with prolonged ICU LOS (OR 1.11; 95% CI 1.06–1.15; P < 0.001) and hospital LOS (OR 1.06; 95% CI 1.01–1.10; P = 0.009) after PSM. Furthermore, the absence of an effect of supplemental oxygen on mortality was consistent in all subgroups. CONCLUSION: Routine use of supplemental oxygen in AHF patients without hypoxemia was not found to reduce all-cause in-hospital mortality or ICU mortality. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40779-021-00330-7.