Hypoxemia Rates in OSA Patients by Surgery Type

Post-operative hypoxemia in OSA patients is associated with adverse outcomes. This study measured the incidence of hypoxemia (none, any, mild, severe) by surgery type with the outcomes seen in Chart 2.⁶ The mean and standard deviation for duration of each episode was 143±178 minutes—greater than two hours, on average, per episode. This is an enormous cost to the healthcare system. The authors noted most institutions do not have sufficient resources for intensive monitoring of all post-operative OSA patients and that every hypoxemic episode was serious enough to warrant clinical intervention. It has been estimated that each institution would need to spend at least $25,000 annually to provide a high level of monitoring of post-operative OSA patients.⁷