Blood oxygen studies in premature infants.

Certain features peculiar to premature babies appear to justify the routine use of oxygen. Cyanotic attacks are frequent, an irregular respiratory rhythm is common, and in the smaller infants the pulmonary alveoli are incompletely developed and present a thicker barrier than normal between the alveolar air and the blood stream. Graham, Reardon, Wilson, Tsao and Baumann (1950) and Wilson, Long and Howard (1942) have shown that the respirations of a premature baby will become regular when oxygen is administered. Malm (1953) observed an increased uptake of oxygen by small premature babies who were placed in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere and suggested that their previous oxygen consumption was inadequate. The work of Smith and Kaplan (1942), Graham et al. (1950) and Taylor (1954) has shown that the blood oxygen saturation in smaller premature infants is lower and subject to wider variations than in full-term infants. It should not, however, be assumed that these features are necessarily harmful to the baby who is born before term, and indeed, they may not require correction. The work reported in this paper was undertaken in 1954 to determine the oxygen saturation of blood obtained from premature babies by heel stab.