PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tim Robbins
AU  - Michael Gonevski
AU  - Cain Clark
AU  - Sudhanshu Baitule
AU  - Kavi Sharma
AU  - Angel Magar
AU  - Kiran Patel
AU  - Sailesh Sankar
AU  - Ioannis Kyrou
AU  - Asad Ali
AU  - Harpal S Randeva
TI  - Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the treatment of long COVID: early evaluation of a highly promising intervention
AID  - 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0462
DP  - 2021 Nov 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - e629--e632
VI  - 21
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/6/e629.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/6/e629.full
SO  - Clin Med2021 Nov 01; 21
AB  - Background Long COVID is a common occurrence following COVID-19 infection. The most common symptom reported is fatigue. Limited interventional treatment options exist. We report the first evaluation of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for long COVID treatment.Methods A total of 10 consecutive patients received 10 sessions of HBOT to 2.4 atmospheres over 12 days. Each treatment session lasted 105 minutes, consisting of three 30-minute exposures to 100% oxygen, interspersed with 5-minute air breaks. Validated fatigue and cognitive scoring assessments were performed at day 1 and 10. Statistical analysis was with Wilcoxon signed-rank testing reported alongside effect sizes.Results HBOT yielded a statistically significant improvement in the Chalder fatigue scale (p=0.0059; d=1.75 (very large)), global cognition (p=0.0137; d=–1.07 (large)), executive function (p=0.0039; d=–1.06 (large)), attention (p=0.0020; d=–1.2 (very large)), information processing (p=0.0059; d=–1.25 (very large)) and verbal function (p=0.0098; d=–0.92 (large)).Conclusion Long COVID-related fatigue can be debilitating, and may affect young people who were previously in economic employment. The results presented here suggest potential benefits of HBOT, with statistically significant results following 10 sessions.