Salud Pública de México (Aug 2010)

Valor diagnóstico del signo de "cabeceo" en hipoxemia secundaria a neumonía en niños

  • Miguel Ángel Martínez-Medina,
  • Gerardo Álvarez-Hernández,
  • Ana B Contreras-Mendoza

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 52, no. 4
pp. 334 – 340

Abstract

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Objetivo. Evaluar el signo del " cabeceo" como indicador de hipoxemia en ninos con neumonia. Material y metodos. Se estudiaron 62 menores de 5 anos de edad. Se definio hipoxemia a la saturacion de oxigeno Objective. To assess the clinical usefulness of the head nodding sign (HN) in children with pneumonia. Material and Methods. Cross-sectional study that included 62 children aged 2-59 months. Hypoxemia was defined as arterial oxygen saturation <94% measured by pulse oximetry. HN was examined with regard to three levels of hypoxemia (<94%, . 90%, . 84%). Results. The overall prevalence of hypoxemia was 56.5 %. HN was observed in 64.5% (40) of the patients, 48.4% (30) of those had pneumonia and 73.1% were hypoxemic. HN showed a sensitivity of 73.2% and a specificity of 52.4%. Accuracy of HN was better when a cut off level <94% was used. HN in infants was a better index for hypoxemia than for older children. Conclusions. HN was a good predictor of hypoxemia in children with pneumonia. It seems that HN is an easily recognizable sign, and it could be easily taught to parents and health workers.

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