Screening for Neonatal Congenital Heart Disease: Pulse Oximetry, Clinical Assessment, or Both?

Pulse oximetry had better specificity and sensitivity for detecting critical CHD, but the combination of PO plus clinical assessment was superior for identifying all types of CHD.

Pulse oximetry (PO) is an effective screening tool for neonatal congenital heart disease (CHD) in high-resource countries. In a prospective, multicenter trial, researchers in China assessed the utility of neonatal PO, clinical assessment, or both in screening for CHD in 122,738 newborns without evidence of CHD on prenatal ultrasound. PO was performed 6 to 72 hours after birth and again after clinical assessment. Cardiac disease was confirmed with echocardiography.

Among 120,707 asymptomatic babies, PO alone (performed at a median age of 43 hours) detected 84% of critical CHD but only 59% of major CHD. Compared with clinical assessment, PO had superior specificity (99.7% vs. 97.3%), sensitivity (83.6% vs. 77.4%), and false-positive rates (0.3…

Reviewing Author

F. Bruder Stapleton, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardCareer Physician

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Pediatric Nephrology Foundation (Chair)

F. Bruder Stapleton, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardCareer Physician

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Pediatric Nephrology Foundation (Chair)

Screening for Neonatal Congenital Heart Disease: Pulse Oximetry, Clinical Assessment, or Both?

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Reviewing Author