Effect Sizes for Symptomatic and Cognitive Improvements in Traumatic Brain Injury Following Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been proposed as a method to treat traumatic brain injuries. The combination of pressure and increased oxygen concentration produces a higher content of dissolved oxygen in the bloodstream, which could generate a therapeutic benefit for brain injuries. This dissolved oxygen penetrates deeper into damaged brain tissue than otherwise possible and promotes healing. The result includes improved cognitive functioning and an alleviation of symptoms. However, randomized controlled trials have failed to produce consistent conclusions across multiple studies. There are numerous explanations that might account for the mixed evidence, although one possibility is that prior evidence focuses primarily on statistical significance. The current analyses explored existing evidence by calculating an effect size from each active treatment group and each control group among previous studies. An effect size measure offers several advantages when comparing across studies as it can be used to directly contrast evidence from different scales, and it provides a proximal measure of clinical significance. When exploring the therapeutic benefit through effect sizes, there was a robust and consistent benefit to individuals who underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Placebo effects from the control condition could account for approximately one-third of the observed benefits, but there appeared to be a clinically significant benefit to using hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a treatment intervention for traumatic brain injuries. This evidence highlights the need for design improvements when exploring interventions for traumatic brain injury as well as the importance of focusing on clinical significance in addition to statistical significance.