title: Capillary refill time in term neonates: bedside assessment.
abstract: Capillary refill time (CRT) is yet to be established as a specific clinical sign of peripheral circulation in neonates. This study was conducted to assess the influence of four body sites used for measurement, interobserver variability, sex, birth weight, age at assessment and room temperature on CRT recorded in healthy term neonates, at bedside. Two observers measured CRT in four different body sites (forehead, chest, palm and heel) of each of 155 healthy term neonates. Significant differences occurred between the mean CRT recorded by the two observers in forehead (mean +/- SD: 2.62 +/- 0.8 s and 1.88 +/- 0.57 s; p < 0.001), palm (2.99 +/- 0.61 s and 2.75 +/- 1.12 s; p < 0.05) and heel (3.08 +/- 0.79 s and 4.24 +/- 1.84 s; p < 0.001). Only CRT in chest (2.7 +/- 0.42 s and 2.62 +/- 0.74 s) produced no significant differences in the means with a statistically significant and clinically fair, but not strong, interobserver agreement (r = 0.4; p < 0.001). No significant associations occurred between CRT and sex or birth weight. The associations of chest CRT with age at assessment (r = -0.23; p < 0.01) and room temperature (r = 0.27; p < 0.01) were clinically not important. In conclusion, CRT in neonates needs to be validated further before it can be useful as a specific clinical sign of peripheral circulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Karnatak Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli-580022, India. dr.devaraj@usa.net
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Raichur
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Aralihond
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kasturi
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Patil
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002196:Capillaries / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000098:blood supply*; D005546:Forehead / Q000098:blood supply*; D006225:Hand / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D012016:Reference Values; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity