Oxygen saturation and pulse rate variations with neonatal state: A prospective observational study

This prospective study includes all term newborns (≥37 weeks) after six hours of birth, with normal examination, born at three hospitals in Canada from March 2014 to September 2015 and admitted to the postnatal unit. The consented infants underwent 10 minutes of blinded pre-ductal recordings under direct supervision with the assignment of neonatal state, which was repeated every 12-24 hours before discharge.

Dr Prakash Kannan Loganathan^1,2
pkannanloganathan@nhs.net
(ORCID: 0000-0003-3717-8569)

Dr Shi Difu²

Dr Giorgio Manzoni²

Dr Carlton Baugh²

Dr Yacov Rabi³

¹James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough
²Department of Physics, University of Durham
³University of Calgary, Canada

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Keywords

oxygen saturation; heart rate; desaturation; pulse rate; bradycardia; transcutaneous oxygen saturation

Key points

Normal values and trends of oxygen saturation and heart rate have been reported without accounting for neonatal states.
There is no clinically significant dependence of the vital signs (SpO2 and pulse rate) on the neonatal state during the first 48 hours after birth.
There is no statistical difference in the number of desaturation episodes and the duration of desaturation episodes between sleep and alert states during the first 48 hours.

Also published in Infant:

VOLUME 19 ISSUE 5/NOVEMBER 2023

Achieving oxygen saturation targets in preterm infants at birth: does using an SpO₂ target range help?

Neonatal resuscitation guidelines vary in their recommendations for oxygen saturation (SpO₂) targets – some use a single SpO₂ target, others use a target range. We conducted a prospective observational study collecting SpO₂ data on preterm infants born at <34 weeks’ gestation. The objective of our study was to determine if using a range, rather than a single SpO₂ target, would be more achievable during preterm infant resuscitation