Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jul;157(1):69-73.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2010.01.046. Epub 2010 Mar 20.

A higher incidence of intermittent hypoxemic episodes is associated with severe retinopathy of prematurity

Juliann M Di Fiore  1 , Jeffrey N Bloom, Faruk Orge, Alison Schutt, Mark Schluchter, Vinay K Cheruvu, Michele Walsh, Neil Finer, Richard J Martin
Affiliations

A higher incidence of intermittent hypoxemic episodes is associated with severe retinopathy of prematurity

Juliann M Di Fiore et al. J Pediatr. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a vasoproliferative disorder of the retina in preterm infants, is associated with multiple factors, including oxygenation level. We explored whether the common intermittent hypoxemic events in preterm infants are associated with the development of ROP.

Study design: Oxygen desaturation events were quantified in 79 preterm infants (gestational age, 24 to 27-6/7 weeks) during the first 8 weeks of life. Infants were classified as requiring laser treatment for ROP versus having less severe or no ROP. A linear mixed model was used to study the association between the incidence of intermittent hypoxia and laser treatment of ROP, controlling for gestational age, sex, race, multiple births, and initial severity of illness.

Results: For all infants, hypoxemic events increased with postnatal age (P<.001). Controlling for all covariates, a higher incidence of oxygen desaturation events was found in the infants undergoing laser therapy for ROP (P<.001), males (P<.02), and infants of younger gestational age (P<.003).

Conclusions: The incidence of hypoxemic events was higher in infants with ROP requiring laser therapy. Therapeutic strategies to optimize oxygenation in preterm infants should include minimization of desaturation episodes, which may in turn decrease serious morbidity in this high-risk population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The model-based estimate of intermittent hypoxemic events for all infants. There was a change in the incidence of hypoxemic events with increasing postnatal age (p<0.0001), with relatively few desaturation episodes during the first week of age, a progressive increase over weeks 2 through 4, followed by a decrease in weeks 6 through 8.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The model-based estimate of intermittent hypoxemic events in infants requiring laser treatment for ROP (LaserROP) and those with either no ROP or ROP not severe enough to require laser therapy (NoLaserROP) controlling for gestational age, race, gender, multiple births and SNAPPE-II score. There was an overall higher incidence of hypoxemic events in LaserROP infants (p<0.001) with significant differences at 5, 7 and 8 weeks of age (*p<0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The model based estimate for hyperoxemic (>95%) events in infants requiring laser treatment for ROP (LaserROP) and those with either no ROP or ROP not severe enough to require laser therapy (NoLaserROP). There was a higher incidence of hyperoxemic events in the NoLaserROP group (p=0.005) with significant differences at 2 and 4 through 8 weeks of age (p<0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Chen J, Smith LEH. Retinopathy of prematuriy. Angiogenesis. 2007;10:133–140. - PubMed
    1. Tin W, Miligan DWA, Pennefather P, Hey E. Pulse oximetry, severe retinopathy, and outcome at one year in babies of less than 28 weeks gestation. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2001;84:F106–F110. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tin W. Optimal oxygen saturation for preterm infants. Do we really know? Biol Neonate. 2004;85:319–325. - PubMed
    1. Sears JE, Pietz J, Sonnie C, Dolcini D, Hoppe G. A change in oxygenation supplementation can decrease the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity. Ophthalmology. 2009;116:513–518. - PubMed
    1. Chow LC, Wright KW, Sola A the CSMC oxygen administration study group. Can changes in clinical practice decrease the incidence of severe retinopathy of prematurity in very low birth weight infants? Pediatrics. 2003;111:339–345. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms