Mountain View, Calif. The number of people requiring home oxygen will almost double by 2005, according to the latest market research by Frost & Sullivan.

According to U.S. Oxygen Therapy Device Markets, about 1.28 million people currently need home oxygen therapy. That figure is projected to grow to 2.5 million by 2005.

The study also indicates a decline in revenue through 2005 for concentrators and liquid oxygen systems and a slight increase in revenue for conservers and compressed gas systems. Total revenue in 1998 for concentrators, liquid oxygen systems, compressed gas systems, oxygen conservers and regulators was $333.5 million, down 2 percent from the previous year.

According to Health Care Financing Administration projections, health care spending in the United States will grow to $1.2 trillion this year. That figure will swell 38 percent to nearly $1.7 trillion in the next five years, HCFA said.

Medicare's share of health spending will drop slightly, from 18.7 percent in 1999 to 18.3 percent in 2004, HCFA said. By 2008, it expects health care spending to reach $2.2 trillion. -K.S.