Teste da oximetria de pulso em unidade neonatal de referência - avaliação após 3 anos de sua implantação como teste de triagem universal

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The present study searched to evaluate the results of pulse oximetry test in the screening of critical congenital heart disease in a public maternity hospital in Brazil, especially regarding the rate of positive and false positive tests. METHODS: A descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study was conducted by collecting data from the oximetry test logbook and from an electronic medical record from January to December 2018.The results were compared with the others described in the literature. RESULTS: 1,976 pulse oximetry tests were performed, with 303 alterations initially. 52 newborns had kept the altered test after retest, and 39 newborns were excluded. Among the altered tests, 9 congenital heart defects were found, but no critical congenital heart defects, generating 2.6% of false positive tests. CONCLUSION: The pulse oximetry test as a neonatal screening tool was important for the diagnosis of newborns with congenital heart disease, even though no cases of critical congenital heart defects. The number of false positive tests observed was much higher than reported in the literature, causing indirect costs in length of hospital stay, unnecessary examinations and family anxiety.