Authors: Ekström et al.
Publication: 2023
Study Design: Double-blind, randomized, controlled
Participants: 31 individuals with Long-COVID symptoms
Country: Sweden
🔍What was observed?
This pilot study examined whether HBOT is safe and well-tolerated for long COVID patients – even before any effect is assessed. Participants received either over 8 weeks:
HBOT (10–15 sessions of 90 minutes each, 2.4 ATA)
or placebo (sham HBOT) under the same conditions
🎯 The objective was to analyze tolerability – measured in terms of side effects, laboratory values, and dropout rates.
✨ Highlights & Annotations
✅ Results & Highlights
No serious adverse event was observed under HBOT
Only mild side effects such as ear pressure and fatigue
Dropout rate was 0% in the HBOT group
Older individuals also tolerated the therapy well
Follow-up showed no noticeable late effects
📌 Good to know
This study was one of the first placebo-controlled investigations specifically focused on the safety of HBOT in Long COVID.
The results serve as a foundation for larger efficacy studies such as HOT-LoCO Phase II.
The study reinforces the argument that HBOT can be a safe procedure even for chronic patients.
“The hyperbaric oxygen therapy was well tolerated – without any serious side effects.”
📈 Conclusion
The results show that HBOT can be safely applied even in patients with Long-COVID. An important step towards the development of evidence-based therapy.
Study (PDF)
Study (PDF)
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