Non-Invasive Capnography Versus Pulse Oximetry for Early Detection of Respiratory Depression During Pediatric Procedural Sedation

Background/Objectives: Continuous ventilation monitoring during pediatric sedation is essential, as respiratory depression may occur silently and may not be detected promptly by conventional methods such as pulse oximetry. Non-invasive capnography has been proposed to improve early detection of resp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Català Altarriba, Laura|||0000-0002-6298-2770, Yeh, Sean|||0000-0002-6855-8794, Ravit, Aude Marie|||0000-0003-2953-8181, Gonzalez Rioja, Xoan|||0000-0001-9327-7516, Brió Sanagustín, Sonia|||0000-0002-1520-4618
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:uabarcelona_::fe6c4dbeb747670eae68ec05660cc42f
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/326789
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/children12070938
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Capnography
Pediatric sedation
Procedural sedation
Respiratory depression
Respiratory monitoring
Descripción
Sumario:Background/Objectives: Continuous ventilation monitoring during pediatric sedation is essential, as respiratory depression may occur silently and may not be detected promptly by conventional methods such as pulse oximetry. Non-invasive capnography has been proposed to improve early detection of respiratory compromise. This prospective observational study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive capnography, compared to pulse oximetry, for detecting respiratory depression in pediatric patients undergoing sedation. Methods: We conducted a single-center, prospective observational study at a tertiary pediatric hospital, enrolling 101 patients (ages 1-17 years) undergoing sedation for diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. Patients were monitored using both pulse oximetry and non-invasive capnography. Episodes of respiratory depression-defined as apnea, hypopneic hypoventilation, bradypneic hypoventilation, and desaturation-were recorded. We compared the diagnostic performance and time to detection between capnography and pulse oximetry. Results: We identified 93 episodes of respiratory depression in 52 patients (51.1%). Capnography detected all apnea episodes and 76.9% of hypopneic hypoventilation episodes that were not identified by pulse oximetry. The median time advantage of capnography over pulse oximetry was 35 s (p = 0.0055). Combining capnography and pulse oximetry identified more events than pulse oximetry alone (93 vs. 53 episodes). Conclusions: Non-invasive capnography improves the early detection of respiratory depression compared to conventional monitoring with pulse oximetry in pediatric procedural sedation. While these findings support its routine use to enhance patient safety, larger multicenter studies are needed to demonstrate its diagnostic accuracy and impact on clinical outcomes.