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Comparison of respiratory physiologic features when infants are placed in car safety seats or car beds

T Bernard Kinane1, Joan Murphy, Joel L Bass

  • 1Pediatric Pulmonary Unit, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. tkinane@partners.org

Pediatrics
|August 3, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Infant car beds and car safety seats showed similar respiratory outcomes. However, both devices were associated with surprisingly common periods of low oxygen saturation in healthy newborns.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric respiratory physiology
  • Neonatal safety devices

Background:

  • Infant car safety seats are widely used for transporting newborns.
  • Concerns exist regarding the potential impact of infant car seats and car beds on infant respiration.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the respiratory physiologic features of healthy term infants in car beds versus car safety seats.

Main Methods:

  • 67 healthy term infants were randomly assigned to car beds (33) or car safety seats (34).
  • Respiratory data, including oxygen saturation and apnea, were collected and analyzed blindly within the first week of life.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences were found in mean oxygen saturation or apnea episodes between the car bed and car safety seat groups.
  • Both groups experienced similar percentages of time with oxygen saturation below 95%.
  • A notable finding was the common occurrence of prolonged periods with oxygen saturation < 95% in a subset of infants in both groups.

Conclusions:

  • Infant car beds and car safety seats demonstrate similar respiratory physiologic features in healthy term infants.
  • The study highlights that periods of reduced oxygen saturation are surprisingly frequent in both types of infant transport devices.
Abstract

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