FIG. 43 Continuing with the baseline characteristics in HOT-HMV, the patients showed significant hypoxic and hypercapnic respiratory failure, with mean PaO2 of approximately 6.4 kPa and PaCO2 of nearly 8 kPa.[1]

There was significant impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) at baseline in HOT-HMV, whether measured by the disease-specific SGRQ or the SRI questionnaire, which is well validated as a measure of HRQOL in patients with sleep-disordered breathing and chronic respiratory failure.

There were also extremely high levels of dyspnea when measured by the MRC dyspnea score, with a score of 5 identifying patients who were breathless on activities of daily living, such as washing and dressing.