Oxyhemoglobin concentrations do not support hemoglobinopathy in COVID-19.

Patrick Maher, Hamna Zafar, Kusum Mathews

Respiratory medicine 2021 Oct

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Based on computerized modeling studies, it has been postulated that the severe hypoxemia in COVID-19 may result from impaired oxygen carrying capacity on hemoglobin. Standard pulse oximetry may not detect hypoxemia resulting from hemoglobinopathy, therefore hemoglobin co-oximetry is needed to evaluate this divergence. In a clinical data analysis of a multicenter cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, we found a minimal effect, less than 1%, on the correlation between oxyhemoglobin concentration and predicted oxygen saturation in the presence of COVID-19 infection. This effect is unlikely to explain the clinically significant hypoxia in COVID-19 patients. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Patrick Maher, Hamna Zafar, Kusum Mathews. Oxyhemoglobin concentrations do not support hemoglobinopathy in COVID-19. Respiratory medicine. 2021 Oct;187:106597