Therapeutic advances in respiratory disease
-
This analysis examines the roots of clinical practice regarding oxygen therapy and finds that some aspects have changed very little over the past 200 years. Oxygen is commonly prescribed and administered as a therapy across all healthcare settings, particularly for the treatment and management of respiratory conditions, both acute and chronic. ⋯ It can be considered that based on clinical presumptions and speculation the prolific and injudicious use of oxygen was encouraged and the legacy for today's practice seeded. The conjectures proposed here may enable modern day erroneous beliefs to be confronted and clinical practice to move on.