ArticlePhysiological reports2022
Does hyperbaric oxygen cause narcosis or hyperexcitability? A quantitative EEG analysis.
Article in Physiological reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Electroencephalographic (EEG) changes accompanying normal breathing of concentrated oxygen (hyperoxic ventilation) by healthy adults: a systematic review.Diving and hyperbaric medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of normobaric and hyperbaric hyperoxia treatment on symptoms and cognitive capacities in Long COVID patients: a randomised placebo-controlled, prospective, double-blind trial.Diving and hyperbaric medicine · 2025Trial
- Cognitive risk during underwater exposure: from environmental stressors to assessment and context-aware monitoring.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Comparing the EMMA capnograph with sidestream capnography and arterial carbon dioxide pressure at 284 kPa.Diving and hyperbaric medicine · 2023Article
- Does hyperbaric oxygen cause narcosis or hyperexcitability? A quantitative EEG analysis.Physiological reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Divers breathe higher partial pressures of oxygen at depth than at the surface. The literature and diving community are divided on whether or not oxygen is narcotic. Conversely, hyperbaric oxygen may induce dose-dependent cerebral hyperexcitability. This study evaluated whether hyperbaric oxygen causes similar narcotic effects to nitrogen, and investigated oxygen's hyperexcitability effect. Twelve human participants breathed "normobaric" air and 100% oxygen, and "hyperbaric" 100% oxygen at 142 and 284 kPa, while psychometric performance, electroencephalography (EEG), and task load perception were measured. EEG was analyzed with functional connectivity and temporal complexity algorithms. The spatial functional connectivity, estimated using mutual information, was summarized with the global efficiency network measure. Temporal complexity was calculated with a "default-mode-network (DMN) complexity" algorithm. Hyperbaric oxygen-breathing caused no change in EEG global efficiency or in the psychometric test. However, oxygen caused a significant reduction of DMN complexity and a reduction in task load perception. Hyperbaric oxygen did not cause the same changes in EEG global efficiency seen with hyperbaric air, which likely related to a narcotic effect of nitrogen. Hyperbaric oxygen seemed to disturb the time evolution of EEG patterns that could be taken as evidence of early oxygen-induced cortical hyperexcitability. These findings suggest that hyperbaric oxygen is not narcotic and will help inform divers' decisions on suitable gas mixtures.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.