Abstract Rationale The impact of initiating oxygen on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is uncertain. Oxygen therapy may improve symptoms, but may also impose physical limitations and have a psychological impact on patients. We investigated changes in HRQL following the initiation of supplemental oxygen in patients with IPF in the IPF-PRO Registry. Methods The IPF-PRO Registry enrolled patients with IPF that was diagnosed or confirmed at the enrolling center in the previous 6 months. Among patients who initiated supplemental oxygen during follow-up, we evaluated changes in the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) total and domain scores before and after initiation of supplemental oxygen. We compared SGRQ scores at the visit at which oxygen use was first reported (if available, otherwise the next visit when measurements were available) with scores within the 9 months prior to first reported use of oxygen using linear regression models, with change in SGRQ score as the response variable and before/after oxygen initiation as the indicator variable. Analyses were adjusted for FVC % predicted and DLco % predicted at the visit prior to first reported use of oxygen. Results Among 611 patients not using supplemental oxygen at enrollment into the IPF-PRO Registry, 343 patients initiated supplemental oxygen with activity, of whom 245 also initiated supplemental oxygen at rest, during the follow-up period. Median (Q1, Q3) time between collection of SGRQ scores before and after initiation of supplemental oxygen was 6.2 (5.4, 8.0) months for oxygen with activity and 6.0 (5.1, 7.1) months for oxygen with activity and at rest. After initiation of supplemental oxygen with activity, there was a significant increase (worsening) in SGRQ total, activity and impact scores, but not in the symptoms score (Table). After initiation of supplemental oxygen with activity and at rest, there was a significant increase (worsening) in SGRQ total, activity, impact and symptoms scores (Table). Conclusions Among patients in the IPF-PRO Registry, there were significant deteriorations in SGRQ activity and impact scores after initiation of supplemental oxygen. This abstract is funded by: The IPF-PRO/ILD-PRO Registry is supported by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc and run in collaboration with the Duke Clinical Research Institute and enrolling centres.
Snyder et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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