Source: Annual Congress 2012 - Various issues in clinical physiology
Disease area: Airway diseases

Abstract

Background:
Pulse oximetry is commonly used to measure oxygen saturations (SpO₂) in assessment of patients with stable COPD. This is considered to be equivalent to oxygen saturations measured on a blood gas analyser (SaO₂). The ATS, ERS and GOLD guidelines for COPD define suitability for long term oxygen therapy with PaO₂ less than 7.3kPa or SaO₂ of less than 88%.
Aim:
To confirm if SpO₂ correlates to SaO₂ in stable COPD patients.
Methods:
Retrospective study of patients with stable COPD attending oxygen clinics in an acute teaching hospital.
Results:
N=73, Male 29 %, Mean Age70 (range 53 - 93), Mean FEV1 0.89 L, current smokers 29%, 26% on oxygen, mean MRC grade 4, mean BORG score at rest 2 and mean hematocrit (HCT) 0.41.
On‘t‘ paired testing in all patients, no statistically significant difference was noted between SpO₂ and SaO₂ (p value: 0.972), the mean SpO₂- SaO₂ is -0.012% (95% CI of -0.71 to 0.69).
However, in current smokers subgroup (N=21) high variation between these values was noted, with the mean SpO₂- SaO₂ 1.067%. There was a tendency for SpO₂ to be higher than SaO₂ (95% CI of -1.038 to 3.171).
There is no statistically significant relationship between SpO₂ and SaO₂ in COPD patients in relation to sex, age, severity of COPD, smoking status, MRC grade, BORG score, and HCT levels.
Conclusions:
As the difference between SpO₂ and SaO₂ is high in current smokers, SpO₂ reading using pulse oximetry might not be reliable. Further studies with larger sample size are needed to evaluate this further.

Rating:

Share or cite this content

Citations should be made in the following way:
R.K. Yadavilli, V.S. Sreeguru Lakshman, P. Stockton, S. Twite, S. Agarwal (Prescot, United Kingdom). Does SpO₂ correlate with SaO₂ in stable COPD patients?. Eur Respir J 2012; 40: Suppl. 56, 3795

Member's Comments

No comment yet.

Related content which might interest you: Predictors of PAO2 and PaCO2 in COPD patients Source: Annual Congress 2009 - Gas exchange and exercise in respiratory diseases Year: 2009 Imbalances in TNFα in patients with a TNFα polymorphism and a COPD phenotype Source: Annual Congress 2009 - New results in molecular pathology and functional genomics of non-neoplastic lung diseases Year: 2009 The "rapid decliner" COPD phenotype Source: Annual Congress 2010 - COPD: diagnosis Year: 2010 Who win? Spirometry versus symptoms for predicting the longitudinal outcomes in COPD patients – 10 years observation Source: Annual Congress 2011 - Clinical parameters in airway diseases Year: 2011 Effects of colonization by Haemophilus influenzae in COPD stable patients Source: Annual Congress 2009 - Exacerbations of COPD: new findings Year: 2009 Preference, satisfaction and critical errors with Genuair® and HandiHaler® in patients with COPD Source: Annual Congress 2012 - Treatment of asthma, bronchiectasis and cough: inhaler use Year: 2012 IL1RL1 polymorphisms are associated with the level of soluble IL1RL1 and asthma development in children Source: Annual Congress 2009 - Asthma genetics: from genome wide to single nucleotide polymorphisms Year: 2009 Comorbidities associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – A clinical study Source: Annual Congress 2011 - COPD diagnosis Year: 2011 Presence of pneumocystis jiroveci colonization in patients with COPD Source: Annual Congress 2011 - Role of infection in exacerbations of COPD Year: 2011 Hedgehog-interacting protein (HHIP) polymorphisms and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Source: Annual Congress 2011 - Genetic and environmental risk factors for respiratory diseases Year: 2011 Identifying a ‘frequent exacerbator‘ phenotype in a cohort of COPD patients (EXACO study) Source: Annual Congress 2012 - Prevalences and characterstics of obstructive airway disease Year: 2012 Symptoms experienced by COPD patients during exacerbations and their association with healthcare utilization – EXACO study Source: Annual Congress 2011 - Respiratory epidemiology: quality of life, therapy and socioeconomics Year: 2011 Exacerbations in COPD patients – Are they related to BMI or weight loss? Source: Annual Congress 2010 - COPD: treatment and monitoring Year: 2010 Do exacerbation outcomes in the POET-COPDÔ trial differ between regions? Source: Annual Congress 2011 - COPD exacerbation Year: 2011 Outcome analysis of ‘do not resuscitate‘ versus ‘full resuscitation‘ patients with an acute exacerbation of COPD treated with noninvasive ventilation in a pulmonary unit Source: Annual Congress 2011 - Recent advances in noninvasive ventilation used for treating acute respiratory failure Year: 2011 Heliox administration in patients with COPD exacerbation – Technical aspects Source: Annual Congress 2010 - Mechanical ventilation and weaning Year: 2010 Halotherapy – A possible method to enhance airway treatment on patients with obstructive pathology Source: Annual Congress 2012 - Treatment of asthma, bronchiectasis and cough: inhaler use Year: 2012 Physical activity and sleep duration following hospitalisation with exacerbation of COPD vs. stable COPD & age matched controls Source: Annual Congress 2012 - The latest insights in chronic care Year: 2012 Can SenseWearTM activity monitors detect slow speeds of walking in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)? Source: Annual Congress 2010 - Physical activity, exercise regimes and outcomes for chronic respiratory disease Year: 2010 Characteristics of ‘exacerbation-prone‘ phenotype‘ based on a self-questionnaire in adult patients with asthma Source: Annual Congress 2010 - Methods in respiratory epidemiology Year: 2010