The incidence of early post-operative hypoxemia and its contributing factors among patients underwent operation under anesthesia at University of Gondar comprehensive and specialized referral hospital, Gondar, North West Ethiopia, 2018. A prospective observational study

Abstract

Background: Hypoxemia is defined as low level of oxygen in the blood. The early postoperative period is a critical time for developing hypoxemia. It is well known that the physiological response of the patient is not reversed immediately after anesthesia and surgery. Supplemental oxygen should be considered in patients who had operation under anesthesia at the potential time of post-operative period. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of early post-operative hypoxemia and its contributing factors among operated patients under anesthesia during transportation to recovery rooms and at recovery rooms. Methods: A prospective observational study design was conducted to determine the incidence of early post-operative hypoxemia and to identify the contributing factors among operated patients who had undergone with anesthesia from March 1 to April 10, 2018. Data were checked on daily basis. Data were entered to Epi Info and analyzed by statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 software. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patient's sociodemographic data. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regressions were conducted to see the existence of the association between dependent and independent variables. Results: 424 operated patients were included. The overall incidence of early post-operative hypoxemia among the study subjects (424) was 113 (26.7%). The risk factors of early post-operative hypoxemia were preoperative oxygen saturation <95%, general anesthesia, heart disease, subcostal incision, surgical duration 120 min, muscular strength score 0 and hepato-biliary-pancreas surgeries. Conclusion: The incidence of early postoperative hypoxemia was high and risk factors of early postoperative hypoxemia were preoperative oxygen saturation<95%, general anesthesia, heart disease, subcostal incision, surgical duration >120 min, muscular strength score 0 and hepato-biliary-pancreas surgeries. Therefore, oxygen administration should be commenced to all risky patients for hypoxemia during early post-operative period.