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Observational Study
. 2020 Jan 9;20(1):7.
doi: 10.1186/s12890-019-1007-3.

A multicentre prospective observational study comparing arterial blood gas values to those obtained by pulse oximeters used in adult patients attending Australian and New Zealand hospitals

Janine Pilcher  1   2   3 , Laura Ploen  4 , Steve McKinstry  5 , George Bardsley  5   6 , Jimmy Chien  7 , Lesley Howard  7 , Sharon Lee  7 , Lutz Beckert  4 , Maureen Swanney  4 , Mark Weatherall  6   8 , Richard Beasley  5   6
Affiliations
Observational Study

A multicentre prospective observational study comparing arterial blood gas values to those obtained by pulse oximeters used in adult patients attending Australian and New Zealand hospitals

Janine Pilcher et al. BMC Pulm Med. .

Abstract

Background: Pulse oximetry is widely used in the clinical setting. The purpose of this validation study was to investigate the level of agreement between oxygen saturations measured by pulse oximeter (SpO2) and arterial blood gas (SaO2) in a range of oximeters in clinical use in Australia and New Zealand.

Methods: Paired SpO2 and SaO2 measurements were collected from 400 patients in one Australian and two New Zealand hospitals. The ages of the patients ranged from 18 to 95 years. Bias and limits of agreement were estimated. Sensitivity and specificity for detecting hypoxaemia, defined as SaO2 < 90%, were also estimated.

Results: The majority of participants were recruited from the Outpatient, Ward or High Dependency Unit setting. Bias, oximeter-measured minus arterial blood gas-measured oxygen saturation, was - 1.2%, with limits of agreement - 4.4 to 2.0%. SpO2 was at least 4% lower than SaO2 for 10 (2.5%) of the participants and SpO2 was at least 4% higher than the SaO2 in 3 (0.8%) of the participants. None of the participants with a SpO2 ≥ 92% were hypoxaemic, defined as SaO2 < 90%. There were no clinically significant differences in oximetry accuracy in relation to clinical characteristics or oximeter brand.

Conclusions: In the majority of the participants, pulse oximetry was an accurate method to assess SaO2 and had good performance in detecting hypoxaemia. However, in a small proportion of participants, differences between SaO2 and SpO2 could have clinical relevance in terms of patient monitoring and management. A SpO2 ≥ 92% indicates that hypoxaemia, defined as a SaO2 < 90%, is not present.

Trial registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12614001257651). Date of registration: 2/12/2014.

Keywords: Arterial blood gas; Hypoxaemia; Oxygen; Pulse oximeter; Validation.

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Conflict of interest statement

RB reports grants from Fisher and Paykel healthcare, outside the submitted work. Of note, the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand receives funding from the HRC Independent Research Organisations Capability Fund. JP, JC and RB are members of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Adult Oxygen Guidelines Group. RB is a member of the BTS Emergency Oxygen Guideline Group. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow of participants through the study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bland Altman Plot for SpO2 versus SaO2 SaO2: Oxygen saturation measured by arterial blood gas sample, SpO2: Oxygen saturation measured by standard pulse oximeter. The solid reference line is the mean bias and the dashed reference lines are the limits of agreement around this mean bias.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
ROC curve for SpO2 to predict SaO2 < 90%. The c-statistic for the logistic regression, representing the area under the ROC curve, was 0.986. SaO2: Oxygen saturation measured by arterial blood gas sample, SpO2: Oxygen saturation measured by standard pulse oximeter
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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