Is Pulse Oximetry Useful for Screening Neonates for Critical Congenital Heart Disease at High Altitudes?

Abstract

Now that pulse oximetry is used widely to screen for critical congenital heart disease, it is time to consider whether this screening method is applicable to those who live at high altitudes. Consideration of basic physical principles and reports from the literature indicate that not only is the 95% cutoff point for arterial oxygen saturation incorrect at high altitudes, but the lower saturations are accompanied by greater variability and therefore there is the possibility of a greater percentage of false-positive screening tests at high altitudes. Because of ethnic differences in response to high altitudes, normative data will have to be collected separately in different countries and perhaps for different ethnic groups.