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Supplemental oxygen can be a life-saving intervention for patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure; however, emerging evidence suggests that too much oxygen is harmful (NEJM JW Gen Med Dec 1 2016 and JAMA 2016; 316:1583). Small trials have shown excess cardiac arrhythmias, lung injuries, and other complications in hospitalized patients without demonstrated hypoxemia who receive oxygen or whose oxygen administration results in supra-normal partial pressures (i.e., hyperoxemia). Should we be doing more to turn down the oxygen when it's not needed?
Investigators completed a meta-analysis of 25 randomized trials that included 16,000 acutely ill patients who were treated with either a liberal or a conservative oxygenation strategy. Oxygen targ…