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Content: Some forms of CHD cause no or very few problems in the health, growth, and development of the infant. However, critical CHD can bring a significant risk of morbidity and mortality if not diagnosed soon after birth. Failing to detect critical CHD while in the newborn nursery may lead to critical events such as cardiogenic shock or death. Survivors who present late are at greater risk for neurologic injury and subsequent developmental delay. Pulse oximetry, or “pulse ox,” is a simple, non-invasive and painless test that is used to measure the percent oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in the arterial blood and the pulse rate. Pulse ox was invented in the 1970s and is now widely used and accepted in clinical care; it is often thought to be a basic vital sign. Why
is pulse ox used to screen for CHD? Pulse ox can help to identify infants with critical CHD that may have low levels of oxygen in their blood. Pulse ox screening may help diagnose critical CHD before an infant becomes sick.