International guideline recommendations and eligibility criteria for home oxygen therapy.

Oxygen is designated by WHO as an essential medicine, 1 WHOEssential medicine status—oxygen. https://list.essentialmeds.org/recommendations/13Date: 2017 Date accessed: December 10, 2022 Google Scholar which reflects its importance to patients with various acute and chronic diseases. Home oxygen therapy can be provided continuously throughout most of the day, only during ambulation, or only during sleep. Although the potential benefits of oxygen vary across diseases, home oxygen therapy improves dyspnoea and functional capacity in patients who have clinically significant hypoxaemia, and also improves survival in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 2 Jacobs SS Krishnan JA Lederer DJ et al. Home oxygen therapy for adults with chronic lung disease. An official American Thoracic Society clinical practice guideline. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020; 202: e121-e141 Crossref PubMed Scopus (112) Google Scholar , 3 Nocturnal Oxygen Therapy Trial GroupContinuous or nocturnal oxygen therapy in hypoxemic chronic obstructive lung disease: a clinical trial. Ann Intern Med. 1980; 93: 391-398 Crossref PubMed Scopus (2186) Google Scholar The eligibility criteria for home oxygen therapy are based on hypoxaemia thresholds that vary between and often within countries. 4 Lacasse Y Bernard S Maltais F Eligibility for home oxygen programs and funding across Canada. Can Respir J. 2015; 22: 324-330 Crossref PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar This variability is also present in the guideline recommendations of respiratory societies and health-care organisations. 5 Magnet FS Storre JH Windisch W Home oxygen therapy: evidence versus reality. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2017; 11: 425-441 Crossref PubMed Scopus (14) Google Scholar There is also heterogeneity in the funding and availability of equipment used to deliver oxygen. As a result, access to this essential medicine is inadequate in many parts of the world, resulting in substantial gaps in patient care. Correction to Lancet Respir Med 2023; 11: 402–05Saleem F, Hur SA, Cahalan M, et al. International guideline recommendations and eligibility criteria for home oxygen therapy. Lancet Respir Med 2023; 11: 402–05—In this Comment the name of one of the authors should read Seo Am Hur not Seo A Hur. This correction has been made to the online version as of May 3, 2023. Full-Text PDF