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The research we draw on

These are the studies, guidelines and official pages behind our guides. We link to each one so you can read it yourself.

Home oxygen

  • Nocturnal Oxygen Therapy Trial Group. Continuous or nocturnal oxygen therapy in hypoxemic chronic obstructive lung disease. Annals of Internal Medicine, 1980. doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-93-3-391
    203 people with seriously low blood oxygen. Round-the-clock oxygen was compared with night-only oxygen. There was no group without oxygen.
  • Medical Research Council Working Party. Long term domiciliary oxygen therapy in chronic hypoxic cor pulmonale complicating chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The Lancet, 1981. PubMed 6110912
    87 very unwell people. Oxygen for at least 15 hours a day was compared with no oxygen over five years.
  • Long-Term Oxygen Treatment Trial Research Group. A randomized trial of long-term oxygen for COPD with moderate desaturation. New England Journal of Medicine, 2016. doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1604344
    738 people with moderately low oxygen. Long-term oxygen made no difference to survival or time to first hospital stay.
  • McDonald CF and others. Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand clinical practice guideline on adult home oxygen therapy. Respirology, 2024. thoracic.org.au
    The current Australian and New Zealand guideline for prescribers.

Flying

  • Coker RK and others. British Thoracic Society clinical statement on air travel for passengers with respiratory disease. Thorax, 2022. brit-thoracic.org.uk
    UK guidance for clinicians on who should be assessed before flying.
  • Air New Zealand. Medical equipment. airnewzealand.com
    The airline's own rules for concentrators, CPAP and batteries.
  • Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand. Travelling with medical items. aviation.govt.nz
    New Zealand rules on oxygen cylinders and lithium batteries.

Sleep apnoea and CPAP

  • Kapur VK and others. Clinical practice guideline for diagnostic testing for adult obstructive sleep apnea. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2017. doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.6506
    Who a home sleep test suits, and who should be tested in a lab.
  • Patil SP and others. Treatment of adult obstructive sleep apnea with positive airway pressure: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2019. doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7638
    A review of the trials of CPAP and similar machines.
  • McEvoy RD and others. CPAP for prevention of cardiovascular events in obstructive sleep apnea (the SAVE trial). New England Journal of Medicine, 2016. doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1606599
    2,717 adults with existing heart disease or stroke. CPAP did not reduce cardiovascular events.
  • Mihaere KM and others. Obstructive sleep apnea in New Zealand adults: prevalence and risk factors among Māori and non-Māori. Sleep, 2009. doi.org/10.1093/sleep/32.7.949
    A New Zealand estimate of how common sleep apnoea is, from 2009.
  • Benjafield AV and others. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2019. doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30198-5
    A modelled worldwide estimate, funded by a CPAP maker.

Official New Zealand health information

This page is general information, not medical advice. Your doctor or nurse knows your situation; please talk to them before changing any treatment.

Checked November 2026.