Objective To explore the clinical value of monitoring cerebral oxygen saturation and disturbance coefficient in children with brain injury. Methods This study enrolled 92 children with brain dysfunction admitted to the Intensive Care Medicine Department of Hebei Children's Hospital from March 2024 to May 2025 as the research group. They were divided into three subgroups based on age: 1–3, 3–6, and 6–16 years old. During the same period, 150 children who underwent outpatient health examinations were selected as the control group. General information (age, gender, etc.) was collected for both groups. Within 24 h of admission, the research group monitored and recorded DC and rSO 2 using non-invasive brain edema and cerebral oxygen saturation monitors, while the control group was monitored DC and rSO 2 during outpatient visits. This study aims to compare different DC and rSO₂ groups, examine their correlation with GCS scores, and evaluate the utility of DC and rSO₂ in assessing clinical status and predicting prognosis in children with brain injury. Results There was no statistically significant difference in age and gender between the two groups of patients ( P 0.05). The DC and rSO 2 levels in the research group were lower than those in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference ( P 0.05) in DC and rSO 2 levels among children of different genders and etiologies in the research group. There is a positive correlation between DC, rSO 2 , and GCS scores in the research group (rDC = 0.540, P 0.01; rrSO 2 = 0.509, P 0.01), indicating that the more severe the brain injury, the lower the DC and rSO 2 levels. In the 3–6 year old group of children, DC may be useful in identifying children at risk for cerebral edema, with an area under the curve of 0.834 (95% CI 0.695–0.973, P = 0.001). The optimal cutoff value for DC is 75, with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 78.6%. rSO 2 was associated with poor clinical outcomes, with an area under the curve of 0.765 (95% CI 0.630–0.899, P = 0.003), an optimal cut-off point of 73.5%, a sensitivity of 70.7%, and a specificity of 83.3%. Conclusion DC and rSO 2 may provide complementary information in the evaluation of the condition and prognosis of children with brain injury, as they are non-invasive, dynamic, and have a wider range of clinical applications.
liu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.