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Oxyhemoglobin concentrations do not support hemoglobinopathy in COVID-19
Patrick Maher1, Hamna Zafar2, Kusum Mathews2
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Respiratory Medicine
|September 4, 2021
Summary
Severe hypoxemia in COVID-19 is unlikely due to impaired hemoglobin oxygen carrying capacity. Hemoglobin co-oximetry is not needed to explain significant hypoxia in these patients.
Area of Science:
- Pulmonary Medicine
- Hematology
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Computerized modeling suggested impaired hemoglobin oxygen carrying capacity causes severe hypoxemia in COVID-19.
- Standard pulse oximetry may miss hypoxemia from hemoglobinopathies, necessitating hemoglobin co-oximetry.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of COVID-19 on hemoglobin's oxygen carrying capacity.
- To determine if hemoglobin abnormalities explain severe hypoxemia in COVID-19 patients.
Main Methods:
- Clinical data analysis of a multicenter cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
- Examined the correlation between oxyhemoglobin concentration and predicted oxygen saturation.
Main Results:
- A minimal effect (<1%) was observed on the correlation between oxyhemoglobin and predicted oxygen saturation in COVID-19 patients.
- This minimal effect does not account for clinically significant hypoxia observed in COVID-19.
Conclusions:
- Impaired hemoglobin oxygen carrying capacity is not the primary cause of severe hypoxemia in COVID-19.
- Standard pulse oximetry is adequate for assessing oxygen saturation in COVID-19 patients; hemoglobin co-oximetry is not required for this purpose.
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