Normal oxygen saturation trend in healthy term newborns within 30 minutes of birth

To determine normal arterial oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) trend during first 30 min of life and to evaluate for difference in SpO(2) trends in healthy term newborns of normal vaginal delivery (NVD) and elective cesarean section (CS).

This Prospective Cross-sectional Observational study was conducted in Department of Pediatrics and Obstetrics, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal. Newborns born of NVD and elective CS in first 30 min of life, complying with the study criteria were included in the study. Soon after birth, newborns with Apgar score ≥ 7 were given routine care and pulse-oximeter probe was applied on wiped right hand continuously for 30 min. Readings were obtained at an interval of 5 min.

Among NVD, the mean SpO(2) at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 min were 64.26%, 76.23%, 86.05%, 90.78%, 91.41%, 91.73% and 93.48%, respectively. The mean SpO(2) for CS was 67.43%, 78.50%, 88.44%, 90.81%, 91.46%, 91.83% and 92.88%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the SpO(2) between NVD and CS [95% CI = 74.8612-94.8359 in NVD and 77.1231-94.6912 in CS] and the correlation between NVD and CS being significant [r = 0.997 at 0.01 level]. There exists a strong positive correlation between Apgar and SpO(2) [r = 0.995, significant at 0.01 level (1-tailed) in NVD and r = 0.980, significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed) in CS].

The study defines the normal SpO(2) in healthy term newborns of NVD and CS delivered newborns and also concludes that there is no significant difference in SpO(2) among NVD and CS.