Long-Term Oxygen Therapy and Risk of Fire-Related Events.

INTRODUCTION: Two large major trials showed that long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) improved mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and hypoxemia. Although oxygen accelerates combustion and is an obvious fire hazard, LTOT has traditionally been prescribed to veterans who are actively smoking. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all veterans with COPD at a single center who were prescribed new LTOT between October 2010 and September 2015. Of the 158 patients who met the study criteria, 152 were male. Bayesian logistic regression was used to model the outcome variable fire-related incident with the predictors smoking status, age, race, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and type of oxygen used. RESULTS: The mean age of the 158 patients with COPD in the study was 71.3 years in nonsmokers and 65.9 years in smokers. The model-estimated odds (SD) of a fire-related incident occurring in a smoker were 31.6 (5.1-372.7) times the odds of a fire-related incident occurring in a nonsmoker. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who smoke and remain on LTOT put themselves at greater risk of having a fire-related incident than do nonsmokers.

Therapeutic options in the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in pregnant patient.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic has resulted in the development of various therapeutics to treat and prevent major complications related to the virus; pregnant patients are vulnerable to acquiring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 because of frequent contact with the healthcare setting. Despite the publication of a plethora of case series and randomized control trials of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 therapeutics, few have addressed treatment in the pregnant population. To date, there has been no published review of therapeutic options in the treatment of pregnant patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Here, we provide a review of available treatments for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, various trials with inclusion and exclusion of the pregnant patients, and potential side effects of each treatment in the pregnant patient.