Objective: To study characteristics of oxygenation during the first 2 postnatal months and correlation with the occurrence and severity of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) among infants of extremely low birth weight.
Study design: This retrospective study analyzed the incidence and severity of hyperoxemia and hypoxemia while on respiratory support with or without supplemental oxygen among infants of extremely low birth weight (birth weight <1000 g) admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit during 2016-2020. The findings were correlated with the occurrence and severity of ROP after adjusting for baseline covariates.
Results: After adjusting for differences in baseline demographic and clinical features, the group with severe ROP was exposed to greater fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) (P = .001) and experienced more frequent FiO2 titration adjustments (P = .001) compared with the group without ROP. Ambient air hyperoxemia occurred more frequently in the group without ROP (P = .003), and iatrogenic hyperoxemia occurred more frequently in the group with severe ROP (P = .046). There were no differences in the severity of ambient and iatrogenic hyperoxemia in the study population. The group with severe ROP demonstrated more hypoxemic episodes (P = .01) and longer time spent in the severe hypoxemic range (P = .005) compared with the group without ROP.
Conclusions: Severe ROP is associated with greater FiO2 exposure, increased iatrogenic hyperoxemia, decreased ambient air hyperoxemia, and increased hypoxemia in infants of extremely low birth weight despite a greater frequency of FiO2 titration. This study illustrates the need for automated closed loop FiO2 delivery systems to further optimize oxygen saturation targeting in this high-risk population.
Keywords: ambient air hyperoxemia; continuous FiO(2) monitoring; iatrogenic hyperoxemia; oxygen lability; oxygen saturation targeting; oxygen titration; retinopathy of prematurity.
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