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Pulse oximetry and newborn infants

Pulse oximetry for monitoring infants in the delivery room: a review

J A Dawson, P G Davis, C P F O’Donnell, C O F Kamlin, C J Morley

Division of Neonatal Services, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
J Dawson
Division of Neonatal Services, Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, 132 Grattan Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia; jennifer.dawson@rwh.org.au

Accepted 20 July 2006

Abbreviations: CPAP, continuous positive airway pressure; IQR, interquartile range; SET, signal extraction technology; SpO₂, saturation by pulse oximetry

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

During the first few minutes of life, oxygen saturation (saturation by pulse oximetry, SpO₂) increases from intrapartum levels of 30–40%.¹ In algorithms for neonatal resuscitation published by the International Liaison Committee for Resuscitation,² European Resuscitation Council³ and Australian Resuscitation Council,⁴ clinical assessment of an infant’s colour (a measure of oxygenation) and heart rate are used as major action points. However, studies have shown that clinical assessment of colour during neonatal transition is unreliable.^5,6 O’Donnell et al⁶ showed that the SpO₂ at which observers perceived infants to be pink varied widely, ranging from 10% to 100%. Assessing colour is difficult and therefore is a poor proxy for tissue oxygenation during the first few minutes of life.

Kattwinkel⁷ suggested pulse oximetry may help achieve normoxia in the delivery room. The American Heart Association⁸ suggests that "administration of a variable concentration of oxygen guided by pulse oximetry . . . [Full text of this article]

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