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
. 2016 Jul 2:1:3-6.
doi: 10.15172/pneu.2012.1/208. eCollection 2012.

Oxygen saturations of medical inpatients in a Malawian hospital: cross-sectional study of oxygen supply and demand

Hywel-Gethin Tudur Evans  1 , Nadia Mahmood  1 , Duncan G Fullerton  2 , Jamie Rylance  3 , Andrew Gonani  1 , Stephen B Gordon  2   4 , Kevin Mortimer  2   4 , Theresa J Allain  5
Affiliations

Oxygen saturations of medical inpatients in a Malawian hospital: cross-sectional study of oxygen supply and demand

Hywel-Gethin Tudur Evans et al. Pneumonia (Nathan). .

Abstract

Oxygen is a World Health Organisation listed essential drug yet provision of oxygen in developing countries often fails to meet demand. The aim of this study was to evaluate the need for supplementary oxygen against oxygen delivery capacity at a large teaching hospital in Malawi. A cross-sectional study of all adult medical inpatients and assessment of oxygen provision over a 24-hour period was conducted. 144 patients were included in the study, 14 of whom met local and international criteria for oxygen therapy (oxygen saturations of <90%). Four were receiving oxygen. Of the 8 oxygen concentrators available, only 4 were functional. In conclusion, we identified a need for oxygen that was greater than the supply.

Keywords: Africa; Malawi; oxygen concentrators; oxygen saturations; pneumonia; tuberculosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Photograph demonstrating technique used to assess oxygen flow from an oxygen concentrator.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Histograms showing the number of individuals within specific ranges of SpO2 (A) and RR (B). Pie chart (2A inlay) showing the majority (71%) of patients who required oxygen were not receiving it.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Duke T, Graham SM, Cherian MN, Ginsburg AS, English M. Oxygen is an essential medicine: a call for international action. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2010;14(11):1362–68. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children . Guidelines for the Management of Common Illnesses with Limited Resources; World Health Organisation’s Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development. 2005.
    1. Clinical management of human infection with avian influenza A H5N1 virus . World Health Organisation. 2007.
    1. Laman M, Ripa P, Vince J, Tefuarani NX. Can clinical signs predict hypoxaemia in Papua New Guinean children with moderate and severe pneumonia? Ann Trop Paediatr. 2005;25(1):23–7. doi: 10.1179/146532805X23317. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Duke T, Wandi F, Johnson M, Matai S, Kaupa M. Improved oxygen systems for childhood pneumonia: a multihospital effectiveness study in Papua New Guinea. The Lancet. 2008;372:1328–33. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61164-2. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources