title: Hypoxaemia in infants with respiratory tract infections.
abstract: Nineteen infants who were graduates from special care baby units underwent two overnight tape recordings of oxygen saturation (SaO2) and breathing movements; one during an upper (n = 12) or lower (n = 7) respiratory tract infection and the other when free of infection. Baseline SaO2 was lower during infection (median 99.6 vs 100%, p less than 0.01), with four patients having values (84.3-95.5%) below the normal lower limit for full-term infants (97%). The median number of apnoeic pauses was also lower during respiratory tract infection (4.7 vs 15.7/h, p less than 0.02). The median number of episodic desaturations (SaO2 less than or equal to 80%) did not change significantly (1.3 vs 1.9/h, p greater than 0.05), with the exception of one patient who had extremely increased values during infection for both apnoeic pauses (63/h) and desaturations (112/h). No infant, however, was considered clinically hypoxaemic. Clinically unsuspected hypoxaemia may thus occur during respiratory tract infection in a proportion of infants graduating from special care baby units. Such hypoxaemia may have potentially deleterious effects.
authors.affiliation: Academic Department of Paediatrics, North Staffordshire Hospital Centre, University of Keele, Rotherham, UK.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Poets
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Stebbens
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Arrowsmith
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Salfield
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Southall
mesh_terms: D001049:Apnea / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010991:Plethysmography; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen