The Journal of pediatrics
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The Journal of pediatrics · Dec 1991
Prevalence and prediction of hypoxemia in children with respiratory infections in the Peruvian Andes.
To determine the effect of respiratory infections on oxyhemoglobin saturation in a high-altitude population, we recorded clinical signs, oxyhemoglobin saturation determined by pulse oximetry, and findings on radiographs of the chest of 423 children with acute respiratory infections; the children were living at an altitude of 3750 m in the Peruvian Andes. We defined hypoxemia as an oxyhemoglobin saturation value greater than 2 SD below the mean value for 153 well children in this population. Eighty-three percent of children with clinical bronchopneumonia, but only 10% of children with upper respiratory tract infection, had hypoxemia (p less than 0.001). ⋯ Case management algorithms developed in low-altitude regions may have to be modified for high-altitude settings. In this setting, pulse oximetry is a good predictor of pneumonia. Because pulse oximetry is more objective and cheaper than radiography, its role as a clinical and investigative tool merits further exploration.