The role of oxygen saturation to FIO2 ratio in recognition of hypoxemia in patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure and ARDS

For the last decade, ARDS has been defined by the Berlin criteria using Pa_O2 to F_IO2 ratio to quantify oxygenation impairment. However, Pa_O2 measurement requires an arterial blood gas test, and arterial blood gas testing availability varies by a patient’s severity of illness and can be unavailable in low-resource settings. Additionally, the frequency of arterial blood gas tests in different racial and ethnic populations varies. The new global ARDS definition added the oxygen saturation (Sp_O2) to F_IO2 ratio, which includes pulse oximetry to define hypoxemia, to improve earlier and more complete recognition of ARDS. However, a limitation of Sp_O2 to F_IO2 ratio is that it cannot be used for hypoxemia assessment when Sp_O2 is > 97%. This study aimed to examine the role of Sp_O2 to F_IO2 ratio on hypoxemia identification in patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure and ARDS.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Elizabeth Levy, Barry D Fuchs, Michael Harhay, Rachel Kohn, Stefania Scott, Gary E Weissman, Meeta Prasad Kerlin