Lower oxygen saturation targets in ventilated children could save lives, trial concludes

Aiming for lower oxygen targets in critically ill children being ventilated in intensive care could save lives and reduce the length of time that organ support is needed, a large UK-wide study has shown.

A randomised trial of 1872 children being cared for in 15 paediatric intensive care units found that, overall, those treated to a reduced peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO₂) target of 88-92% fared better than those who received oxygen to a target of more than 94%.

The researchers reported that the children who received the lower level of oxygen were 6% more likely to have a better outcome, in terms of the primary outcome of duration of organ support or death in the first 30 days (probabilistic index for conservative oxygenation 0.53 (95% confidence interval 0.5 to 0.55), versus liberal oxygenation 0.47 (0.44 to 0.5)). …