Peripheral Oxygen Saturation Measured using Pulse Oximeter among Healthy Adults at Moderate to High Altitude City of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Date
2021-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: At high altitude, human body undergoes some changes as part of acclimatization
and adaptation for exposure to inadequacy of oxygen due to reduction on barometric pressure
of oxygen. Inadequacy of oxygen might lead to hypoxemia. The other well-known component
of high altitude physiological adaptation is change in hemoglobin concentration. It is very
important to know the changes in peripheral oxygen and hemoglobin (hgb) values of healthy
adults living in moderately to high altitude areas such as Addis Ababa so that it helps to
determine target values during disease states. However, such data are lacking for residents of
Addis Ababa.
Objective: The study was conducted to assess the profile of distribution of peripheral oxygen
saturation measured with pulse oximeter among healthy adult population in the moderate to
high altitude city of Addis Ababa. We also determined the hemoglobin concentration level of
the participants to see if there is hematologic effect of altitude elevation on the permanent
residents of Addis Ababa. In addition, other predictors of oxygen saturation in residents of
Addis Ababa were assessed.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between the dates of July 30, 2021 and
November 30, 2021 on permanent and active apparently healthy residents of Addis Ababa.
Data was collected via structured questionnaire as well as direct measurement of weight,
height, RR, PR, BP, Hgb level and spo2
with appropriate gadgets. The collected data was
checked for completeness and consistency and was entered to Excel. SPSS version 26.0 was
used for analysis. Mean, median, standard deviation and variance were calculated. The Chisquare
test
was
used
to
identify
determinant
variables.
A
significant
level
of
p
<
0.05
was
taken
to
conclude that the variable has a statistically significant impact on the value of oxygen
saturation.
Result A total of 296 participants were enrolled among which 108 (36.5%) of the participants
were male while 188 (63.5%) of the participants were female. The median age of the
participants was 27 years, IQR (23,33). Larger proportion of study participants fall under healthy
BMI category,63.2% of the study population. The mean SpO2
(±SD) of the study population was
95.6 %(±1.61) with mean SpO2
value of male participants being 95.61% (±1.54) and 95.63
(±1.64) for female participants. Over two-third of the participants, 68.5% of male participants
and 69.1% of female participants had saturation value of ≥ 95%. The mean Hgb (±SD) was found
to be 15.59 (±1.58) g/dl , 16.53 (±1.46) g/dl for males and 15.05 (±1.3) g/dl for females. There
was no significant association between category of spo2
versus sex (p=.910), BMI(p=.580),
female hgb category (p=.610) and male hemoglobin category (p=.861) individually. Fisher’s
exact test done between age categories and spO2
categories, showed statistically significant
association between the two variables (two-tailed p = .000) with lesser participants achieving
spo2
of 95% and above as their age increases.
Conclusion Majority of the sample population had spo2
with in the normal range proposed by
WHO. In addition, the hgb profile also shows the majority of the participants had hgb value
within the suggested normal cut offs. Thus, we share the previous thought of conclusion made
on Ethiopians having yet undetermined adaptation mechanism for exposure to high altitude as
there is no phenotypic effect on their spo2
or Hgb. Consequently, we can follow the already put
forward cut off value for normal Spo2
as well as hypoxia when making medical decisions in
treating our patients.
Description
Keywords
Moderate altitude, oxygen saturation, hemoglobin, Addis Ababa