This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bass, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by Roth, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bass, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by Roth, B.
PEDIATRICS Vol. 113 No. 1 January 2004, pp. 169-170

O2 Saturation and Slings

Joel L. Bass, MD
Department of Pediatrics Newton-Wellesley Hospital Newton, MA 02462, USA

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

To the Editor.—

I read with interest the recent article on cardiorespiratory stability of infants carried in slings by Stening et al.1 This is an important topic for which objective data have not been available. Unfortunately, the article suffers from a number of significant flaws. The most glaring is the definition of desaturation as a decline in oxygen concentration to <88% for at least 10 seconds. There are 10 published studies on the normal oxygen saturation of infants. In a recent review of this issue by Poets,2 it was determined that the baseline saturation of infants is 93% to 100% in term and preterm neonates and 97% to 100% in term and preterm infants; therefore, the current study has not been able to identify the number of abnormal desaturation events that occur in a sling.

It is also troubling that the authors make the assumption that, in the absence of outright respiratory arrest, significant apnea, or bradycardia, chronic and/or recurrent subclinical oxygen desaturation should not be considered a "clinically relevant" event. There are published reports of both cognitive3 and behavioral difficulties4 in infants who are exposed to chronic or recurrent hypoxia. The authors therefore should be more guarded in their conclusions, . . . [Full Text of this Article]