Objective: To determine the incidence of hypo- and hyper-capnia in a European cohort of ventilated newborn infants.
Design and setting: Two-point cross-sectional prospective study in 173 European neonatal intensive care units.
Patients and methods: Patient characteristics, ventilator settings and measurements, and blood gas analyses were collected for endotracheally ventilated newborn infants on two separate dates.
Results: A total of 1569 blood gas analyses were performed in 508 included patients with a mean±SD Pco2 of 48±12 mm Hg or 6.4±1.6 kPa (range 17-104 mm Hg or 2.3-13.9 kPa). Hypocapnia (Pco2<30 mm Hg or 4 kPa) and hypercapnia (Pco2>52 mm Hg or 7 kPa) was present in, respectively, 69 (4%) and 492 (31%) of the blood gases. Hypocapnia was most common in the first 3 days of life (7.3%) and hypercapnia after the first week of life (42.6%). Pco2 was significantly higher in preterm infants (49 mm Hg or 6.5 kPa) than term infants (43 mm Hg or 5.7 kPa) and significantly lower during pressure-limited ventilation (47 mm Hg or 6.3±1.6 kPa) compared with volume-targeted ventilation (51 mm Hg or 6.8±1.7 kPa) and high-frequency ventilation (50 mm Hg or 6.7±1.7 kPa).
Conclusions: This study shows that hypocapnia is a relatively uncommon finding during neonatal ventilation. The higher incidence of hypercapnia may suggest that permissive hypercapnia has found its way into daily clinical practice.
Keywords: hypercapnia; hypocapnia; mechanical ventilation; survey.