Pulse oximetry screening for critical congenital heart disease in term and late pre-term newborn

Introduction: Neonatal screening for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) aids in identifying infants for whom early diagnosis and therapy are beneficial.

Objective: To study utilisation of pulse oximetry in term and late preterm neonates for early diagnosis of CCHD.

Method: This prospective study was conducted in newborns in the Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Education and Research Hospital, Turkey from December 2012 to August 2013. Pre-ductal and post-ductal pulse oximetry was carried out on all neonates between 24-72 hours of age. Screening was considered to be positive when the oxygen saturation level was ≤ 95% or if the pre-ductal and post-ductal saturations, taken after 3 hours from the initial measurements, differed by more than 3%.

Results: There were 971 (97%) babies with negative screening and 29 (3%) babies with positive screening. The sensitivity was 93%, specificity 99%, positive predictive value 81% and negative predictive value 99%.

Conclusions: Pulse oximetry screening in term and late preterm neonates is effective for early diagnosis of CCHD.

Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2019; 48(4): 308-311