Fig. 2 a
Analysis of the time to exacerbation of subjective dyspnea. Among the untreated patients with eePAP or less severe PH, the time to exacerbation of dyspnea was 128.07 ± 108.86 days (mean ± SD) in 14 of 15 patients confirmed to have experienced exacerbation of subjective symptoms of dyspnea by the obtained data. Among the drug-treated patients with eePAP or less severe PH, the time to exacerbation of dyspnea was 369.00 ± 195.97 days (mean ± SD) in 6 of 14 patients confirmed to have experienced exacerbation of dyspnea by the obtained data. The time to exacerbation of dyspnea at the time of analysis was 144.20 ± 31.63 days (mean ± SE) in the untreated group and 524.99 ± 62.22 days in the drug-treated group, and proportional hazard analysis showed that the risk ratio of the drug-treated to untreated groups was 0.10, with significant difference noted. b analysis of the time to an increase in the dose of O2 (event). Increase of the O2 dose: In the untreated patients with eePAP or less severe PH, the time to the dose increase was 181.88 ± 152.84 days (mean ± SD) in 8 of 15 patients confirmed to have required an increase of the dose of O2 by the obtained data. In the drug-treated patients with borderline or less severe PH, the time to the dose increase was 304.00 ± 246.31 days (mean ± SD) in 3 of 14 patients confirmed to have required an increase of the O2 dose by the obtained data. The time to O2 dose increase at the time of analysis was 298.47 ± 54.80 days in the untreated group and 523.24 ± 50.27 days in the drug-treated group, and the risk ratio analysis showed that the hazard ratio of the drug-treated to untreated groups was 0.23 with significant difference between the groups. The results seemed to favoring the drug-treated group. c Hospital-free survival. Of the 15 untreated patients with eePAP or less severe PH, 6 were confirmed to have been hospitalized (event) by the obtained (survival time analysis* in patients unable to stay at home from all causes) data with the time to hospitalization being 339.50 ± 208.53 days (mean ± SD). Of the 14 drug-treated patients with eePAP or less severe PH, 2 was confirmed to have been hospitalized by the data obtained on the cut-off date with the time to hospitalization being 440.00 ± 405.88 days. At the time of survival time analysis, hospital-free survival in the untreated group was 467.55 ± 58.68 days (mean ± SE) (median, 610 days), which was shown to be significantly different from that in the drug-treated group (6086.00 ± 55.87) by proportional hazard analysis (hazard ratio [HR] of the drug-treated to untreated groups, 0.18; P = 0.026). *One suicide patient in the untreated group was not counted in hospitalization (hospital-free survival days) because of being treated as discontinued case. d Overall survival. Of the 15 untreated patients with eePAP or less severe PH, 6 were confirmed dead (event) by the obtained (survival analysis with all-cause mortality) data with the time to event being 349.00 ± 211.02 days (mean ± SD); of the drug-treated patients with eePAP or less severe PH, 1 was confirmed dead with the time to event being 727 days. At the time of survival analysis, the time to event in the untreated group was 428.74 ± 60.78 days (mean ± SE), which was significantly different from that in the drug-treated group by proportional hazard analysis (HR of the drug-treated to untreated groups, 0.095; P = 0.030)