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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Expired CO2 Measurement in Intubated or Spontaneously Breathing Patients from the Emergency Department
Published on: January 29, 2011
Capnography monitoring in nonintubated patients with respiratory distress
Patricia Jabre1, Line Jacob, Harold Auger
1SAMU 94, Henri Mondor University Hospital (AP-HP), 94000 Créteil, France.
Objective:
The objective was to assess agreement between end-tidal carbon dioxide values measured by a handheld capnometer (Petco(2)) and values measured by a blood gas analyzer (Paco(2)) in nonintubated patients with respiratory distress in an out-of-hospital setting.
Methods:
This prospective study compared Petco(2) values obtained by an end-tidal capnometer (Microcap Plus; Oridion Capnography Inc, Needham, Mass) to Paco(2) values by the Bland and Altman statistical method.
Results:
A total of 50 patients were included. Continuous Petco(2) monitoring was easily performed in all 50 patients during ambulance transport, but blood gas analysis failed in 1 patient. Agreement between the 2 methods was poor with a bias (mean difference) between Petco(2) and Paco(2) measurements of 12 mm Hg and a precision (SD of the difference) of 8 mm Hg. The gradient between Petco(2) and Paco(2) was greater than 5 and 10 mm Hg in 41 and 25 patients, respectively.
Conclusions:
Petco(2) measurements poorly reflected Paco(2) values in our population of nonintubated patients with respiratory distress of various origins.
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