Earlier this summer, our advocacy partner, TreatNOW Coalition, sent us this HBOT Research and Science document. It is an evidence pyramid that illustrates the strength of evidence supporting HBOT for TBI/PTSD. It organizes and ranks studies by the relative scientific rigor of the evidence, and each tier shows how many HBOT studies fall at that evidence level. The following image represents the hierarchy of evidence provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
The evidence hierarchy takes a top-down approach to locating the best evidence. First, search for a recent, well-conducted systematic review. Continue down through the available evidence.
In this blog post, we’ve shared information and links to the Level 1 evidence. These are considered the highest level of evidence and include systematic reviews and appraised evidence. For the additional Evidence Levels, we’ve made the PDF document available for download. All links are active at the time of sharing. If you would like to receive the report as a Word document file, please reach out to us.
. Harch, P.G. (2022). Systematic Review and Dosage Analysis: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Efficacy in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Persistent Postconcussion Syndrome. Front. Neurol. 13:815056. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.815056
Design: Meta-Analysis / Systematic Review
URL: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.815056/full
Doenyas-Barak K, Kutz I, Levi G, Lang E, Beberashvili I, Efrati S. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Veterans With Treatment-resistant PTSD: A Longitudinal Follow-up Study. Mil Med. 2022 Nov 26:usac360. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usac360.
Design: Meta-Analysis / Longitudinal follow-up
URL: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10630921/
Andrews SR and Harch PG (2024). Systematic Review and Dosage Analysis: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Efficacy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Front. Neurol. 15:1360311. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1360311
Design: Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis
URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2024.1360311
Hard to see how, in light of this, any impartial person could still maintain that HBOT is not scientifically well established.
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