Oxygen Saturation Levels during the First Minutes of Life in Healthy Term Neonates

The oxygen support during neonatal resuscitation is not completely defined by evidence-based science. We, therefore, aimed to determine the oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) levels within the first 15 minutes of life and to evaluate the effect of delivery routes, gender and measurement sites on the mean time to reach preductal and postductal SpO(2) levels of 90% among healthy term neonates. The sensors were placed at the right hand for preductally and the left hand for postductally SpO(2) measurements. In this prospective observational study, 141 healthy term neonates were included. Seventy-one (50.3%) of the babies were female, and 77 (54.6%) were delivered by caesarean section. Mean gestational age was 38.8 +/- 1.1 weeks and mean birth weight was 3,082 +/- 425.7 g. Overall, it took 7.5 +/- 2.8 and 9.5 +/- 3.2 min to reach oxygen saturation levels >= 90% preductally and postductally, respectively. The lengths of time to reach >= 90% preductal and postductal SpO(2) levels were 6.9 +/- 2.8 and 8.4 +/- 3.2 min for vaginal delivery and 8.0 +/- 2.8 and 10.4 +/- 2.9 min for caesarean section, respectively. Thus, the time to reach SpO(2) levels 90% was prolonged in the postductal measurements and in the neonates born by caesarean section. Gender was found to have no effect on duration to reach 90% SpO(2) levels at both preductal and postductal measurements. The measurement site and the type of delivery must be taken into consideration when oxygen saturation was measured in term healthy newborn in delivery room immediately after birth.