Hydrogen-Oxygen Therapy Speeds COVID-19 Recovery in Hospital Patients
Effect of hydrogen/oxygen therapy for ordinary COVID-19 patients: a propensity-score matched case-control study
Research hubs: Respiratory System
- Evidence type
- Controlled trial (non-randomized) · Human study
- Authors
- Yingying Zeng, Weijie Guan, Kai Wang, Zhijun Jie, Xu Zou, Xiaoping Tan, Xinyu Li, Xiaohua Chen, Xiaoting Ren, Junhong Jiang, Zeguang Zheng, Jindong Shi, Nanshan Zhong
- Journal
- BMC Infectious Diseases
- Year
- 2023
- PMID
- 37386364
- Study Type
- Human
- Participants
- 88
- Delivery
- Gas
- Dose
- 3.0 L/min for more than 7 consecutive days and a minimum of 6 h/day
- H₂ concentration
- hydrogen/oxygen volume ratio of 2:1
- Duration
- 4 weeks
- Funding
- Foundation of Chinese Public Health Union (GWLM202042); Project for COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment of Guangdong Science and Technology (2020A111128032)
- Conflicts of interest
- None declared
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Cited by
- 9 (OpenAlex, as of November 2026)
- Country
- China
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 (excerpt)
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…