Oxygen use in low-resource settings: An intervention still triggered by intuition

Although hypoxic patients attending low-resource hospitals have a high mortality, many are not given supplemental oxygen. If oximetry is not available, then the decision to provide oxygen must be based on other factors.

The variables associated with the decision to provide supplemental oxygen made by an emergency department staff, without access to oximetry, in a low resource Ugandan hospital were determined from data collected within 16 h of admission to the hospital's medical and surgical wards.

Of 2,599 patients, 731 (28.1%) had an oxygen saturation <95%, and 164 (6.3%) an oxygen saturation <90%. Of the 731 patients with oxygen levels below 95% 573 (83%) were not given oxygen; oxygen was only given to 63 (38%) of the 164 patients with oxygen saturation <90%. On average, a patient given oxygen was more likely to die than one not given oxygen, regardless of their oxygen saturation (odds ratio 13.4, 95%CI 9.1-19.6). After multivariate analysis weakness, dyspnoea, low oxygen saturation, high heart rate, high respiratory rate, low temperature, alertness, gait, and a medical illness were all significantly associated with the use of supplemental oxygen and in-hospital mortality. Logistic regression modelling of these variables had comparable discrimination for both oxygen use (c statistic 0.88 SE 0.02) and in-hospital mortality (c statistic 0.84 SE 0.02).

The intuitive decision to provide oxygen was strongly associated with in-hospital mortality, suggesting that oxygen was given to those considered the sickest patients. In the future, oximetry may guide oxygen therapy more efficiently.