Investigation of the Relationship Between Carboxyhemoglobin Level and End-Tidal Carbon Dioxide in Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning makes up an important part of deaths due to poisoning in the world. It may be hard to diagnose CO poisoning if it is not suspected because the clinical features are non-specific. We wanted to investigate the effects of end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) measurement in expirium on the diagnosis and follow-up of CO poisoning. After the patients were diagnosed as having CO poisoning by taking arterial blood gas from pat ients who were suspected of having CO poisoning, ETCO₂ was measured using the sidestream method. The data were analyzed using the SPSS (IBM SPSS for Windows, ver.23) statistical package program. One hundred fourty six146 patients, 106 with CO poisoning and 40 control cases, were included in the study. After the demographic data were evaluated, the relationship between ETCO2 and carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) was analyzed. No statistically significant difference was found. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to look for a relationship between ETCO2 and COHb. More studies are required to investigate the relationship between ETCO2 and COHb. The study was conducted in a single centre with a few patients. Only the sidestream method was used in the measurement of ETCO2. The parameters affecting respiratory physiology could not be excluded completely. © 2022, Yuzuncu Yil Universitesi Tip Fakultesi. All rights reserved.