Be aware that long-term home oxygen therapy may be offered for comorbidities, such as for some people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (see section 1.2.5 on oxygen in the NICE guidline on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in over 16s. [2018] Relative values of different outcomes The committee agreed that the outcomes critical for decision making were quality of life, change in breathlessness, unplanned hospitalisation (both number of bed days and number of events) and patient and/or carer satisfaction. The important outcomes for decision making were change in exercise capacity and change in NYHA class. Quality of the clinical evidence One study was included in the review. The quality of the evidence was very low. This was due to a high risk of bias resulting from a lack of blinding and incomplete outcome data for a number of the reported outcomes. All of the outcomes were also downgraded due to the indirectness of the follow-up period. The committee originally specified short follow-up points for the outcomes of interest as they felt these would be the most appropriate for a population consisting of people with advanced heart failure who may be receiving palliative care. The included evidence reported follow-up periods of 3 months as a minimum. The committee discussed that this indicated the study population may not have been representative of people with advanced disease. The study also reported some results for a third arm nocturnal oxygen therapy (NOT) which was discontinued early due to issues with trial funding. The committee agreed that due to this early discontinuation and the Chronic Heart Failure Advanced heart failure and palliative care NICE 2018. All rights reserved. Subject to Notice of rights. 