Hydrogen-Oxygen Therapy Speeds COVID-19 Recovery in Hospital Patients
- Authors
- Yingying Zeng, Weijie Guan, Kai Wang, Zhijun Jie, Xu Zou, Xiaoping Tan, Xinyu Li, Xiaohua Chen, Xiaoting Ren, Junhong Jiang, Zheng Zeguang, Jindong Shi, Nanshan Zhong
- Journal
- BMC Infectious Diseases
- Year
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12879-023-08424-4
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- COVID-19
- Body System
- Respiratory
TL;DR
A study found that treating COVID-19 patients with a mix of hydrogen and oxygen gas could shorten their hospital stay and improve their oxygen levels compared to just oxygen therapy.
Key Finding
COVID-19 patients treated with hydrogen/oxygen therapy had a median hospital stay of 12 days compared to 13 days for those receiving oxygen alone, with higher discharge rates at 21 and 28 days.
Summary
This study compared hydrogen/oxygen gas therapy to regular oxygen therapy in 88 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across three medical centers. Patients receiving hydrogen/oxygen therapy spent about one day less in the hospital on average (12 days versus 13 days) and had higher discharge rates after 21 and 28 days. They also showed slightly higher oxygen saturation levels (a measure of how much oxygen is in the blood) after five days of treatment.
Practical Takeaway
This small, retrospective study suggests hydrogen/oxygen therapy may modestly reduce hospitalization time in COVID-19 patients, with potentially greater benefits for younger patients without other health conditions. However, the difference in hospital stay was only one day, and this was a single study without long-term follow-up data, so more research is needed to confirm these findings and understand whether the benefits are clinically meaningful.
Abstract
Background: Hydrogen/oxygen therapy contribute to ameliorate dyspnea and disease progression in patients with respiratory diseases. Therefore, we hypothesized that hydrogen/oxygen therapy for ordinary coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients might reduce the length of hospitalization and increase hospital discharge rates. Methods: This retrospective, propensity-score matched (PSM) case-control study included 180 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 from 3 centers. After assigned in 1:2 ratios by PSM, 33 patients received hydrogen/oxygen therapy and 55 patients received oxygen therapy included in this study. Primary endpoint was the length of hospitalization. Secondary endpoints were hospital discharge rates and oxygen saturation (SpO2). Vital signs and respiratory symptoms were also observed. Results: Findings confirmed a significantly lower median length of hospitalization (HR = 1.91; 95% CIs, 1.25-2.92; p < 0.05) in the hydrogen/oxygen group (12 days; 95% CI, 9-15) versus the oxygen group (13 days; 95% CI, 11-20). The higher hospital discharge rates were observed in the hydrogen/oxygen group at 21 days (93.9% vs. 74.5%; p < 0.05) and 28 days (97.0% vs. 85.5%; p < 0.05) compared with the oxygen group, except for 14 days (69.7% vs. 56.4%). After 5-day therapy, patients in hydrogen/oxygen group exhibited a higher level of SpO2 compared with that in the oxygen group (98.5%±0.56% vs. 97.8%±1.0%; p < 0.001). In subgroup analysis of patients received hydrogen/oxygen, patients aged < 55 years (p = 0.028) and without comorbidities (p = 0.002) exhibited a shorter hospitalization (median 10 days). Conclusion: This study indicated that hydrogen/oxygen might be a useful therapeutic medical gas to enhance SpO2 and shorten length of hospitalization in patients with ordinary COVID-19. Younger patients or those without comorbidities are likely to benefit more from hydrogen/oxygen therapy.