Table 3. Success and failure in the measurement of peripheral oxygen saturations of children aged 2–59 months with clinical pneumonia, Malawi, 2012–2014.
| Variable | Measurements by HCB providers | Measurements by CHW | All PPC seen by HCB providers (n = 6503) | All PPC seen by CHW (n = 7589) | P | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Successful (n = 6087) | Failed (n = 416) | P | Successful (n = 7179) | Failed (n = 410) | P | |||||||
| SpO2 | ||||||||||||
| Median value, % (IQR) | 96.0 (94.0–98.0) | NA | NA | 97.0 (95.0–98.0) | NA | NA | NA | NA | < 0.001 | |||
| Patient with SpO2 of < 90%, no. (%) | 568 (9.3) | NA | NA | 84 (1.2) | NA | NA | NA | NA | < 0.001 | |||
| Patient with SpO2 of 90–92%, no. (%) | 543 (8.9) | NA | NA | 627 (10.3) | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0.007 | |||
| Age | ||||||||||||
| Median value, months (IQR) | 12.0 (7.0–23.0) | 11.0 (6.0–19.0) | 0.002 | 19.0 (9.0–34.0) | 19.0 (10.0–33.0) | 0.725 | 12.0 (7.0–22.0) | 19.0 (9.0–34.0) | < 0.001 | |||
| Patient aged 2–11 months, no. (%) | 2805 (46.1) | 220 (52.9) | 0.007 | 2255 (31.4) | 118 (28.8) | 0.264 | 3025 (46.5) | 2373 (31.3) | < 0.001 | |||
| Female, no. (%) | 2726/5701 (47.8) | 146/314 (46.5) | 0.649 | 3653/7101 (51.4) | 196/407 (48.2) | 0.209 | 2872/6015 (47.7) | 3849/7508 (51.3) | < 0.001 | |||
| Weight in kg, mean (SD)a | 9.2 (2.8) | 8.8 (2.6) | 0.012 | NR | NR | NR | 9.1 (2.7) | NR | ||||
| Respiratory rate in breaths/min, mean (SD)b | 53.4 (10.1) | 55.1 (10.3) | 0.048 | 50.4 (10.3) | 49.8 (9.3) | 0.264 | 53.9 (10.1) | 50.3 (10.2) | < 0.001 | |||
| Chest indrawing, no. (%) | 1401 (23.0) | 101 (24.3) | 0.554 | 104 (1.4) | 11 (2.7) | 0.047 | 1502 (23.1) | 115 (1.5) | < 0.001 | |||
| General danger signs, no. (%)c | 538 (8.8) | 61 (14.7) | < 0.001 | 852 (11.9) | 23 (5.6) | < 0.001 | 599 (9.2) | 875 (11.5) | < 0.001 | |||
| Referral eligible, no. (%) | 1761 (28.9) | 127 (30.5) | 0.487 | 990 (13.8) | 33 (8.0) | < 0.001 | 1888 (29.0) | 1023 (13.5) | < 0.001 | |||
CHW: community health workers; HCB: health-centre-based; IQR, interquartile range; NA: not applicable; NR: not recorded; PPC: paediatric pneumonia cases; SD, standard deviation; SpO2: peripheral arterial haemoglobin oxygen saturation.
a Weights were not recorded for 180 health-centre-based patients – i.e. 85 with, and 95 without, successful measurements of oxygen saturation – or, because community health workers did not have weighing scales, for any patients investigated in their communities.
b. Respiration rates were not recorded for 264 health-centre-based patients – i.e. 140 with, and 124 without, successful measurements of oxygen saturation – or for 156 of the patients of community health workers - i.e. 130 with, and 26 without, successful measurements of oxygen saturation.
c Patients were considered to have a general danger sign if they were abnormally sleepy, had convulsions, were not breastfeeding or drinking, were vomiting everything they ingested, showed stridor when calm, were infected with – or had been exposed to – human immunodeficiency virus and/or had severe malnutrition.