High-Flow or Standard Oxygen in Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

Data are needed on the effect of oxygen delivered through a high-flow nasal cannula, as compared with standard oxygen therapy, on intubation and mortality in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure.

In this multicenter, open-label trial, we randomly assigned patients who had acute hypoxemic respiratory failure to receive high-flow-oxygen or standard-oxygen therapy. All the patients had a ratio of the partial pressure of arterial oxygen to the fraction of inspired oxygen of 200 or less, a respiratory rate of more than 25 breaths per minute, and pulmonary infiltrate on chest imaging. The primary outcome was death by day 28.