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Oxygen saturation ranges for healthy newborns within 24 hours at 1800 m
  1. Melissa C Morgan1,
  2. Beth Maina2,
  3. Mary Waiyego2,
  4. Catherine Mutinda2,
  5. Jalemba Aluvaala3,4,
  6. Michuki Maina4,
  7. Mike English4,5
  1. 1Department of Paediatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
  2. 2Pumwani Maternity Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya
  3. 3Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
  4. 4KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Nairobi, Kenya
  5. 5Nuffield Department of Medicine & Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Melissa C Morgan, Department of Paediatrics, University of California San Francisco, 550 16th Street, P.O. Box 1224, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Melissa.Morgan{at}ucsf.edu

Abstract

There are minimal data to define normal oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels for infants within the first 24 hours of life and even fewer data generalisable to the 7% of the global population that resides at an altitude of >1500 m. The aim of this study was to establish the reference range for SpO2 in healthy term and preterm neonates within 24 hours in Nairobi, Kenya, located at 1800 m. A random sample of clinically well infants had SpO2 measured once in the first 24 hours. A total of 555 infants were enrolled. The 5th–95th percentile range for preductal and postductal SpO2 was 89%–97% for the term and normal birthweight groups, and 90%–98% for the preterm and low birthweight (LBW) groups. This may suggest that 89% and 97% are reasonable SpO2 bounds for well term, preterm and LBW infants within 24 hours at an altitude of 1800 m.

  • pulse oximetry
  • oxygen saturation
  • SpO2
  • infant
  • preterm

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2016-311813

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter Follow Melissa Morgan @melissacmorgan

    • Contributors MCM initiated the collaborative study, designed data collection tools, monitored data collection for the study, wrote the statistical analysis plan, cleaned and analysed the data and drafted and revised the paper. She is guarantor. BM, MW, CM, JA and MM revised data collection tools, implemented the study in Kenya, monitored data collection and revised the paper. ME initiated the collaborative project, revised data collection tools, contributed to data analysis and revised the paper.

    • Funding MCM received support from the University of California San Francisco Resource Allocation Program Global Health Policy Award to conduct this research. Funds from The Wellcome Trust (#097170) awarded to Mike English as a Senior Fellowship together with additional funds from a Wellcome Trust core grant awarded to the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (#092654) also supported this work.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval University of California San Francisco, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Data are available on application from the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme Data Governance Committee. Applications can be directed in the first instance to Mike English at MEnglish@kemri-wellcome.org.