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Background: In the current medical world, Pulse oximetry has become an important and vital tool in evaluating, monitoring and assessing pulmonary diseases, but the knowledge and widespread information about the arterial oxygen saturation values among clinical personnel and the community or population at large, is limited. The aim of this study was to describe the association of oxygen saturation amongst patients with dyspnea, and their outcome at discharge, i.e. mortality, so as to assess if there is a link between the oxygen saturation of a patient, and his/her clinical prognosis in our setting. This is because despite being a very important tool for diagnostic and management purposes, the pulse oximeter isn’t available in 51-70% of operating theatres in low-income countries, and this is a gap that we need to overcome and improve on.
Methods: This was a prospective cohort study, in which all patients who were admitted to the medical ward at KCMC with dyspnea were enrolled.
Results: A total of 90 dyspneic patients were enrolled, out of which 4 (4.4%) had an oxygen saturation of more than 95%, 40 (44.4%) of patients had an oxygen saturation between 90-95%, and 46 (51.1%) had an oxygen saturation of less than 90%, showing that 86 out of 90 patients, i.e. 95.5% of patients admitted with dyspnea have abnormal oxygen saturation levels (taking a cutoff point of below 95% as abnormal).
Of the 4 patients with an oxygen saturation of more than 95%, none of them died and all (100%) were alive. Of the 40 patients with an oxygen saturation between 90-95%, 14 (35%) died while 26 (65%) were alive. Out of the 46 patients who had an oxygen saturation of less than 90%, 30 (65.2%) of them eventually died and 16 (34.7%) stayed alive
Compared to patients who were admitted with an SP02 of less than 90%, those whose reading were between 90 – 95% (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.12-0.70) on admission had a statistically significant 71% reduced odds of mortality.
Conclusion: The results showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between low oxygen saturation and mortality |
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