Effects of position on oxygen saturation in acute respiratory distress in neonates

ABSTRACT

To determine the effects of prone versus supine positions of the patient on oxygen [O[2]] saturation in neonates with acute respiratory distress. Observational Cross sectional study. Department of Paediatrics Chandka Medical College Hospital Larkana, from December 2011 to June 2012. One hundred neonates were included in this study by non-probability sampling. All the patients with respiratory distress [RD] were kept in supine position for three hours after all necessary resuscitative measures and oxygen saturation was recorded with pulse oximeter. After that they were kept in prone position for six hours. With pulse oximeter oxygen saturation and respiratory rate were measured every two hours interval for six hours. Age ranged from 1 hour - 25 days. There were 77 [77%] term, 19 [19%] preterm and 4 [4%] post term babies with male to female ratio of 1.31. There were a total of 200 supineprone cycles. After 6 hour in prone position the PaO[2] of all patients increased by about 7%. In supine position it was 86.4 +/- 5.7 and in prone 93.5 +/- 4.1 with p value of < 0.001 which is statistically highly significant. Prone position improves oxygenation in majority of patients as compared to supine position