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Does feeding alter arterial oxygen saturation in patients with acute stroke?
A M Rowat1, J M Wardlaw, M S Dennis
1Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road South, Edinburgh, UK. annerowat@hotmail.com
Background And Purpose:
We measured arterial oxygen saturation (SaO(2)) during eating in acute stroke patients to establish the frequency of any meal-related hypoxemia, which could further damage already vulnerable brain tissue.
Methods:
Stroke patients (
Results:
The median baseline SaO(2) was significantly lower in stroke patients (n=106, 95.7%) than elderly (n=50, 96.7%) or young control subjects (n=20, 97.9%; P:<0.001). There was a small decrease in the median SaO(2) during eating in stroke and elderly patients (95.6%, P:=0.08, and 96.3%, P:=0.004, respectively) but not in young controls. Only stroke patients had a significantly lower median SaO(2) after completion of the meal (95. 4%, P:<0.001). SaO(2) of
Conclusions:
Eating a meal was associated with a small fall in median SaO(2) among stroke and elderly patients, but only in stroke patients did this persist for at least 10 minutes after eating. A quarter of stroke patients had episodes in which the SaO(2) fell to