Baseline patient characteristics
| Cylinder oxygen | Cylinder air | Usual care | |
| Patients n | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| Age yrs | 77.4±7.2 | 77.6±5.7 | 76.9±8.3 |
| Male | 14 (56) | 13 (50) | 9 (33) |
| European | 20 (80) | 24 (92) | 25 (93) |
| Smoking history pack-yrs | 38.4±21.6 | 35.1±22.5 | 38.2±20.26 |
| FEV1 | 0.9±0.48 | 0.9±0.37 | 0.8±0.40 |
| FEV1 % pred | 44±22 | 39±17 | 45±18 |
| Resting Pa,O2 on air kPa | 9.6±1.29 | 10.1±1.69 | 10.3±1.63 |
| Resting Pa,CO2 on air kPa | 5.3±0.62 | 5.4±0.43 | 5.1±0.58 |
| Resting Sa,O2 on air % | 94.6±1.93 | 94.7±1.56 | 95.6±1.92 |
| Urgent visits to GP during last 6 of 12 months | 1.0±1.95 | 2.1±2.78 | 0.9±0.86 |
| Hospital admission last 6 of 12 months# | 2.2±2.36 | 1.8±1.47 | 1.4±0.97 |
| Lives alone | 8 (32) | 12 (46) | 19 (70)¶ |
| Social support general | |||
| Someone to confide in | 24 (96) | 23 (88) | 26 (96) |
| Satisfied with support (extremely, very) | 23 (92) | 22 (85) | 23 (88) |
| Help with breathing problem (disease-specific) | 4 (16) | 3 (12) | 4 (15) |
Data are presented as mean±sd or n (%), unless otherwise indicated. FEV1: forced expiratory value in one second; % pred: percentage of predicted value; Pa,O2: arterial oxygen tension; Pa,CO2: arterial carbon dioxide tension; Sa,O2: arterial oxygen saturation; GP: general practitioner. #: hospital admissions in the last 6 of 12 months excluding sentinel admission; ¶: p = 0.04.