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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Pain Symptom Manage. 2013 Jun 2;46(4):463–473. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2012.10.284

Table 2.

Change in Dyspnea Scores, Physiologic Variables, and Adverse Effects Before and After BiPAP and High Flow Oxygen Administrationa

BiPAP High Flow Oxygen
Beforeb
Mean
(95% CI) 		Afterb
Mean
(95% CI)		 Change
Mean
(95% CI)		 P-
valuec 		Beforeb
Mean
(95% CI)		 Afterb
Mean
(95% CI) 		Change
Mean
(95% CI)		 P-
valuec 		P-
valued
Dyspnea scores
Numeric rating scale (0–10) 6.4 (5.1, 7.6) 3.4 (1.8, 5.0) −3.2 (−5.1, −1.3) 0.004 5.9 (4.5, 7.2) 4.2 (3.1, 5.4) −1.9 (−3.4, −0.4) 0.02 0.32
Modified Borg scale (0–10) 4.4 (2.9, 5.8) 2.6 (1.2, 3.9) −1.5 (−3.2, 0.3) 0.13 4.3 (2.5, 6.0) 2.5 (1.6, 3.3) −2.1 (−3.5, −0.6) 0.007 0.29
Physiologic variables
Heart rate (pr minute) 95.6 (17.4) 85.4 (10.5) −5.0 (5.1) 0.02 101.2 (17.2) 97.7 (17.3) −3.6 (7.8) 0.42 0.43
Respiratory rate (per minute) 22.1 (6.4) 20.1 (4.8) −2.0 (4.0) 0.11 22.1 (6.8) 19.2 (5.2) −3.0 (5.2) 0.11 0.97
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) 125 (18) 124 (17) −3.4 (14.5) 0.73 135 (18) 122 (16) −12.6 (14.8) 0.02 0.10
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) 73 (9) 72 (14) −0.2 (7.8) >0.99 79 (12) 76 (11) −2.1 (9.4) 0.79 0.23
Oxygen saturation (%) 98.8 (13.4) 97.9 (4.0) 3.3 (5.3) 0.11 93.1 (5.4) 98.5 (2.1) 5.3 (5.2) 0.003 0.62
Transcutaneous carbon dioxide level 35.5 (7.4) 36.5 (9.2) 1.9 (2.7) 0.04 37.8 (6.3) 36.9 (9.2) −0.9 (5.5) 0.06 0.02
Adverse
Effects 		Beforeb
Median
(IQR)		 Afterb
Median
(IQR)		 Change
Median
(IQR)		 P-
valuec 		Beforeb
Median
(IQR)		 Afterb
Median
(IQR)		 Change
Median
(IQR)		 P-
valuec 		P-
valuec
Dry eyes 1.5 (0.0, 4.0) 0.0 (0.0, 4.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 0.0) 0.63 3.0 (0.0, 4.0) 0.0 (0.0, 3.0) 0.0 (−3.0, 0.0) 0.22 0.10
Eye irritation 1.0 (0.0, 3.0) 0.0 (0.0, 3.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 0.0) 0.22 3.0 (0.0, 4.0) 0.0 (0.0, 1.0) 0.0 (−3.0, 0.0) 0.13 0.47
Feel anxious 2.0 (1.5, 4.0) 2.0 (0.0, 5.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 0.0) 0.69 1.0 (0.0, 5.0) 1.0 (0.0, 2.0) 0.0 (−4.0, 0.0) 0.69 0.12
Mask painful 0.0 (0.0, 2.0) 1.0 (0.0, 3.0) 1.5 (0.0, 3.0) >0.99 NA NA NA NA 0.30
Moist nose 2.0 (1.5, 2.0) 0.0 (0.0, 2.0) −1.5 (−2.0, 0.0) 0.13 2.0 (0.0, 5.0) 5.0 (1.0, 7.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 2.0) 0.73 0.32
Prong uncomfortable 2.0 (0.0, 5.0) 0.0 (0.0, 0.0) −2.5 (−5.0, 0.0) >0.99 2.0 (0.0, 5.5) 2.0 (0.0, 4.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 2.0) 0.73 0.12
Stomach bloating 1.0 (0.0, 3.0) 0.0 (0.0, 1.0) −1.0 (−2.0, 0.0) 0.13 3.0 (0.0, 6.0) 2.0 (0.0, 4.0) −0.5 (−1.0, 0.0) 0.22 0.82
Suffocating 1.5 (0.0, 5.0) 0.0 (0.0, 3.0) −1.0 (−3.0, 0.0) 0.22 1.5 (0.0, 7.0) 1.5 (0.0, 4.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 0.0) >0.99 0.58
Trouble drinking 1.5 (0.0, 2.5) 3.0 (0.0, 7.0) 1.0 (−2.0, 5.0) 0.51 0.0 (0.0, 5.0) 0.0 (0.0, 3.0) 0.0 (0.0, 1.0) >0.99 0.46
Trouble eating 2.5 (1.0, 5.5) 3.0 (0.0, 5.0) −1.0 (−3.0, 3.0) 0.75 5.0 (0.0, 7.0) 2.0 (0.0, 6.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 0.0) 0.69 0.87
Trouble sleeping 2.0 (0.5, 4.5) 2.0 (0.0, 7.0) 0.0 (−1.0, 3.0) >0.99 7.0 (6.0, 8.0) 1.0 (0.0, 6.0) −6.0 (−8.0, 0.0) 0.04 0.02
Trouble talking 2.0 (0.5, 3.5) 5.0 (2.0, 7.0) 0.0 (0.0, 5.0) 0.45 6.0 (2.0, 8.0) 2.0 (0.0, 6.0) 0.0 (−6.0, 2.0) 0.73 0.004

BiPAP = bilevel positive airway pressure; CI = confidence interval; IQR = interquartile range; NA = not applicable; SD = standard deviation.

a

One patient assigned to receive BiPAP was erroneously started on HFO and completed the first intervention. This individual was analyzed as having received BiPAP in the comparison between the two interventions, and analyzed as having received HFO in the before-and-after comparison.

b

Before measurements were done while patients were on baseline oxygen; after measurements were conducted after two hours of study intervention.

c

The signed-rank test was used for before-after comparison.

d

The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare the change in values between HFO and BiPAP.