Abstract

Oxygen enriched air may increase oxygen pressure in brain tissue and have biochemical effects even in subjects without lung disease. Consistently, several studies demonstrated that normobaric oxygen treatment has clinical benefits in some neurological conditions. This study examined the efficacy of normobaric oxygen treatment in subjects with depression. In a randomized, double-blind trial, 55 participants aged 18–65 years with mild to moderate depression (had a Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [HRSD] score of ≥ 8) were recruited to the study from the Southern district in Israel. Participants underwent a psychiatric inclusion assessment at baseline and then were randomly assigned to either normobaric oxygen treatment of 35% fraction of inspired oxygen or 21% fraction of inspired oxygen (room air) through a nasal tube, for 4 weeks, during the night. Evaluations were performed at baseline, 2 and 4 weeks after commencement of study interventions, using the following tools: HRSD; Clinical Global Impression (CGI) questionnaire; World Health Organization-5 questionnaire for the estimation of Quality of Life (WHO-5-QOL); Sense of Coherence (SOC) 13-item questionnaire; and, Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS). A multivariate regression analysis showed that the mean ± standard deviation [SD] changes in the HRSD scores from baseline to week four were − 4.2 ± 0.3 points in the oxygen-treated group and − 0.7 ± 0.6 in the control group, for a between-group difference of 3.5 points (95% confidence interval [CI] − 5.95 to − 1.0; P = 0.007). Similarly, at week four there was a between-group difference of 0.71 points in the CGI score (95% CI − 1.00 to − 0.29; P = 0.001). On the other hand, the analysis revealed that there were no significant differences in WHO-5-QOL, SOC-13 or SDS scores between the groups. This study showed a significant beneficial effect of oxygen treatment on some symptoms of depression.

Trial registration: NCT02149563 (29/05/2014).

Details

Title
Normobaric oxygen treatment for mild-to-moderate depression: a randomized, double-blind, proof-of-concept trial
Author
Bloch Yehudit 1 ; Belmaker, R H 2 ; Shvartzman Pesach 3 ; Romem Pnina 4 ; Bolotin Arkady 5 ; Bersudsky Yuly 6 ; Azab, Abed N 7 

 School for Community Health Professions, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511); Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511); Southern District Health Office, Ministry of Health, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) 
 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511) 
 The Haim Doron Division of Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kappy and Eric Flanders National Palliative Care Resource Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Family Medicine and Siaal Center for Community Research, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511); Soroka Medical Center and Clalit Health Services, Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.412686.f) (ISNI:0000 0004 0470 8989) 
 School for Community Health Professions, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511) 
 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511) 
 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Mental Health Center, Psychiatry Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511) 
 School for Community Health Professions, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511); Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel (GRID:grid.7489.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0511) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2575655265
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.