Does Peak Flow Determine Asthma Better Than Pulse Oximetry?

Posted on Mon, 9 Oct 2017

Question: Greetings - our clinic relies on pulse oximetry alone to determine severity of asthma and response to nebulized medication. I had understood that the peak flow was a better determinant.
Also, the nurses will have the patient hyperventilate to bring up the SaO2 - taking these readings rather than the baseline reading.
Could you comment on this?

Answered by Dr. Klarida Papaqako (50 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Peak flow meter values are used to follow up response from treatment.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Thank you for using Healthcaremagic to post your health query.
I read carefully your question.

Pulse oxymetry is used only to determine the severity of asthma, but it is not a good indicator of medication response. It is true that peak flow meter is better and I personally use that. You may find the normal values for different ages and heights online, and can use that a guide.

Oxygen therapy it is used in an asthma attack, so the hyperventilation and those values are only to go through the crises, but they does not mean that the patient does not need medication after he gets out of the hospital. The patient needs to take the full course of the treatment, depending on the stage of the acute asthma.

Hope this is helpful and answers your questions.
Let me know if you need more clarifications.

Regards,
Dr. Papaqako

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T