Home Oxygen Saturation Monitoring And Quality Of Life Evaluation In Patients With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Preliminary Results From A Prospective Multicenter Trial

Introduction. Long-term follow-up of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an important component of their clinical management. While oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurement is widely used in both routine practice and clinical trials, feasibility and clinical relevance of long-term SpO2 monitoring has not been studied yet. Methods. We designed a 1-year multicenter prospective study aimed at evaluating the long-term feasibility of home daily SpO2 monitoring and its clinical relevance by assessment of correlation with a symptoms and quality of life (QoL) questionnaire. Enrolled patients received a multi-parameter digital recorder (Sally® Personal Assistant, Medigas, Italy), allowing acquisition, transmission and online web-based storage of SpO2 measurements, together with the data of a short questionnaire on symptoms and QoL. SpO2 data were acquired three times a day, for at least one minute, in resting conditions, while answers to the questionnaire were provided once a day. All data were transmitted daily to a dedicated server through the telephone landline. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient () was used to calculate the correlation between SpO2 values and the QoL scores. Results. Six months interim analysis was based on 21 IPF patients (15 males, mean age 75 years; 9 receiving long-term oxygen therapy): 17 of them (81%) provided valid data for a mean time (± SD) of 175 (±78) days). The majority (66%) of patients provided sufficient data for calculating the correlation coefficient. In most patients (86%) SpO2 values decreased while QoL score increased (i.e. QoL deteriorated): in 5 the correlation was statistically significant. Patients monitored for longer time were more likely to show a statistically significant correlation between these two parameters. Home SpO2 monitoring was accepted positively by all patients; the majority of them (63%) was able to self-perform all required tasks. Missing data accounted for 41% of all expected data and were mostly due to technical issues during the first weeks of study. Conclusions. Non-invasive home daily monitoring of oxygen saturation is feasible and well accepted in IPF patients. SpO2 seems to correlate with changes in symptoms and QoL scores, thus confirming the clinical relevance of this parameter.