Pediatric anesthesia & critical care
Near-infrared Spectroscopy and Skin Tone in Children: A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors' conclusion
Darker skin tone is associated with worse NIRS performance and lower NIRS values compared to mixed venous saturation for the INVOS 5100C system.
Study context
- Population
- Consecutive patients under 21 yr undergoing cardiac catheterization; INVOS 5100C forehead near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) vs mixed venous saturation
- Participants
- 110 participants
- Exposure
- NIRS bias by skin tone
- Outcome
- NIRS bias (regional oxygen saturation vs mixed venous saturation)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Mean bias
Individual typology angle (ITA) categories 5 and 6
−12.8%
mean
ITA categories 3 and 4
−2.5%
mean
ITA categories 1 and 2
0.3%
mean
Difference (95% CI)P value
ITA categories 5 and 6 vs ITA categories 3 and 4
10.3%(4.4–16.3)
P < 0.001ITA categories 5 and 6 vs ITA categories 1 and 2
13.1%(7.5–18.7)
P < 0.001Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
ITA association with NIRS bias (multivariable regression)
- Coefficient
- 0.173
- P
- P < 0.001
Original publication
Near-infrared Spectroscopy and Skin Tone in Children: A Prospective Cohort Study. Anesthesiology. Published 29 August 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →