Introduction: Oxygen is essential for maintaining proper bodily functions and is closely regulated within the body. Hypoxemic patients, who have lower than normal oxygen levels in their blood, require precise monitoring to ensure appropriate oxygen therapy. Arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis (SaO 2 ) and pulse oximetry (SpO 2 ) and are two widely used methods to assess oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in blood. Although ABG analysis is gold standard, it is an invasive procedure. On the other hand, pulse oximeter is a small handy device that is non-invasive and accurate to certain extent in the determination of oxygen saturation. In developing countries like Nepal where ABG machines are not available in every health care facility, this study aims to compare oxygen saturation by ABG with pulse oximeter and look for the reliability of pulse oximeter as alternative to ABG. Method: This was a prospective cross-sectional observational study conducted among 152 patients, admitted to Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), who required supplemental oxygen during hospital stay. The ABG analysis was done, and pulse oximeter reading was recorded simultaneously. Data were entered in a structured proforma. The collected data were entered into IBM SPSS for statistical analysis. Statistical analysis included percentage, mean, median, standard deviation, and correlation between SaO 2 and SpO 2 were calculated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Result: A total of 152 patients were included in the study, of which 74 were male and 78 were female with median age of 73.50 (interquartile range IQR 16) years. Most of the hypoxemic patients, 132 (86.84%), admitted to MICU had shortness of breath as the most prominent symptom and leading cause of MICU admission with hypoxemia was acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 78 patients (51.32%). The most common mode of respiratory support was in the form of nasal prongs in 90 (59.21%) patients followed by non-invasive ventilation in 23 (15.13) patients. In our study, median of SaO 2 was 93.8 (IQR 3.175) and median of SpO 2 was 93 (IQR 3). Our study showed a strong correlation between SaO 2 and SpO 2 ( r = 0.880, P- value < 0.01). Conclusion: Our study concluded that a strong correlation was found between SaO 2 and SpO 2 ( r = 0.880, P- value < 0.01) in patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure requiring supplemental oxygen, and pulse oximeter can be used as a reliable tool for the estimation of oxygen saturation and can be used as an alternative to ABG analysis.
Pandey et al. (2026) studied this question.