The Oxygen Saturation Index as Early Predictor of Outcomes in Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the oxygen saturation index (OSI) as an early predictor of clinical deterioration in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study was conducted in consecutive infants with isolated CDH with continuous OSI measurements collected in the first 24 h after birth between June 2017 and July 2021. Outcomes of interest were pulmonary hypertension, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-therapy, and mortality. We evaluated the discriminative values of the maximum OSI value and of mean OSI values with receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis and the area under the ROC curve. Results: In 42 infants with 49,473 OSI measurements, the median OSI was 5.0 (interquartile range 3.1–10.6). Twenty-seven infants developed pulmonary hypertension on a median of day 1 (1-1), of which 15 infants had an indication for ECMO-therapy, and 6 infants died. Maximum OSI values were associated with pulmonary hypertension, ECMO-therapy, and mortality. Mean OSI values had an acceptable discriminative ability for pulmonary hypertension and an excellent discriminative ability for ECMO-therapy and mortality. Although OSI measurements were not always present in the first hours after birth, we determined discriminative cut-offs for mean OSI values already in these first hours for pulmonary hypertension, the need for ECMO-therapy, and mortality. Conclusions: Continuous OSI evaluation is a promising modality to identify those infants at highest risk for clinical deterioration already in the first hours after birth. This provides an opportunity to tailor postnatal management based on the individual patient’s needs.