A44-27 U.S. Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Portable Oxygen Concentrator Users Identified in Real-world Data

Abstract Introduction Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) can be delivered through stationary gas systems, liquid oxygen, or portable oxygen concentrators (POCs). While stationary modalities remain in use, POCs now account for greater LTOT initiation in routine care and are increasingly opted to support mobility and independence. However, population-level characterization of who receive POCs compared with users of traditional stationary oxygen systems remains limited. We sought to describe U.S. adults initiating POC therapy, within a large, linked real-world dataset and to report their demographic, clinical, comorbidity, and short-term respiratory outcome profiles relative to other LTOT modalities. Methods This retrospective observational study used the OM1 Real-World Data Cloud (RWDC0 (January 2013-March 2025), a continuously updated, deterministically linked U.S. claims and electronic medical record dataset (350M patients). Adults (≥18 years old) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, or chronic bronchitis who initiated LTOT were identified. Patients with exclusionary conditions were excluded. Cohorts were stratified by oxygen modality (POC, liquid oxygen, gaseous oxygen). Demographics, payer mix, region, and comorbidities were summarized descriptively. Results Of 22.7 million respiratory-diagnosed patients identified in the RWDC, 509,944 met criteria for POC use (mean age 69.7 years; 58.1% female). In comparison, 4,292 patients met criteria for liquid oxygen (mean age 71.1 years; 58.0% female) and 4,621 for gaseous oxygen (mean age 66.6 years; 56.0% female). Among POC users, commercial insurance predominated (71.5%); Commercial coverage was similar among liquid oxygen users (69.9%) and lower among gaseous oxygen users (64.2%). Medicaid coverage was 4.3% in both POC and liquid oxygen groups, and higher in gaseous oxygen users (11.3%). Among POC users, hypertension was 67.5%, dyslipidemia 56.9%, and chronic heart failure 26.8%. Liquid oxygen users showed lower prevalence of these comorbidities (hypertension 63.8%, dyslipidemia 53.1%, chronic heart failure 23.4%), while gaseous oxygen users had comparable hypertension (64.9%), slightly lower dyslipidemia (52.7%), and similar chronic heart failure (25.1%) relative to POC users. Cross-modality switching was rare (2% of POC users), but among those with overlap, 77.2% involved POC and gas oxygen. Conclusions Linked real-world data enable isolation of a large national POC cohort, revealing that cardiometabolic comorbidities are prevalent among POC users, and these subjects exhibit different age and payer profiles relative to users of stationary modalities. These findings clarify the real-world POC population and provide a foundation for future work evaluating care pathways, resource planning, and short-term outcomes as patients begin LTOT. This abstract is funded by: Inogen