A) Basic distribution of pulse oximetry measurements | Children with chest-indrawing |
Pulse oximetry performed by CLHWs—number/ total number (%) | 2255/2263 (99.6%) |
Oxygen saturation—median (IQR) | |
Overall | 97 (94, 99) |
Bangladesh | 97 (96, 99) |
Ethiopia | 93 (91, 95) |
India | 98 (97, 100) |
Malawi | 97 (95, 99) |
Oxygen saturation category—number/total number (%) | |
<90% | 36/2255 (1.6%) |
90–<93% | 355/2255 (15.7%) |
93%–100% | 1864/2255 (82.7%) |
B) Secondary outcome | Children with chest-indrawing |
Performance of CLHWs* for using pulse oximetry—number/total number (%) | |
CLHWs performed all steps† as per instructions | 2001/2196 (91.1%) |
The difference in SpO2‡ readings between CLHWs and supervisors—number/ total number (%) | |
No | 951/2196 (43.3%) |
1% | 625/2196 (28.5%) |
2% | 325/2196 (14.8%) |
3% or more | 295/2196 (13.4%) |
Impact of pulse oximetry on referral and outcomes—number/total number (%) | |
Hypoxaemic children§ identified and referred to hospital | 36/2255 (1.6%) |
Alive after 14 days of initiation assessment | 36/36 (100%) |
*Among CLHWs whose pulse oximetry were validated by supervisors.
†All steps to perform pulse oximetry are: (i) cleaned the equipment before use, (ii) turned on the device correctly, (iii) selected the correct probe, (iv) attached the probe correctly, (v) positioned the child correctly and (vi) determined the reading correctly.
‡SpO2: Oxygen saturation.
§Defined as SpO2 <90%. CLHWs identified 32 hypoxaemic children, while the supervisor only identified four children. Supervisors readings were used to make clinical decisions and during analysis.
CLHW, community-level health worker.