Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited, a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of products and systems for use in respiratory care, acute care, surgery and the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, announced that new research has been published in the International Journal of COPD which demonstrates significant benefits of nasal high flow therapy for COPD patients using Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s myAirvo device.

The study, a randomised controlled trial undertaken in Denmark, investigated the long-term effects of nasal high flow therapy for COPD patients already being treated with long-term oxygen therapy.  

The trial showed statistically significant results, with the primary outcome being a significant reduction in patients’ exacerbation rate, or worsening of their condition (from 4.95 to 3.12 per patient per year, p <0.001) for those being treated with nasal high flow therapy.

The study also showed for those patients using the myAirvo, that all cause hospitalisation rates decreased from a rate of 1.39 to 0.79 per patient, over the course of the year, for those who followed the protocol. Other positive results included the treatment group (myAirvo) being better than the control group (standard care) in several quality of life assessments, less breathlessness, better mobility and lower carbon dioxide retention levels for these chronic patients.

The trial is the largest study of this treatment length to have been conducted in a home environment and was led by researchers Line Storgaard and Dr Ulla Weinreich. It followed 200 patients with COPD on long-term oxygen for 16 hours or more per day over a period of one year.  

Andrew Somervell, vice president – products & technology at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, said, “It is positive to see such convincing outcomes for patients with COPD. We expect this study to increase clinical interest in the myAirvo home respiratory device and encourage clinical change and adoption around the world.”

This study adds to other positive results that were recently published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. Led by Dr Kazuma Nagata of Kobe City Medical Centre General Hospital, this study was a multi-centre trial in Japan with cross-over design, studying stable COPD patients with hypercapnia2. This research also demonstrated a clinically significant improvement in quality of life for patients (the mean total score improved by 7.8 points, p<0.01), and a decrease in hypercapnia levels for patients with stable hypercapnic COPD. As a result of the positive outcomes of this pilot trial, a larger multi-centre trial has commenced.

Together, these new studies add to the growing body of evidence showing the efficacy of nasal high flow therapy in the home for COPD patients using the myAirvo device.