Clinical predictors of hypoxaemia in Gambian children with acute lower respiratory tract infection: prospective cohort study

Abstract Objectives: To determine clinical correlates and outcome of hypoxaemia in children admitted to hospital with an acute lower respiratory tract infection. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Paediatric wards of the Royal Victoria Hospital and the hospital of the Medical Research Council's hospital in Banjul, the Gambia. Subjects: 1072 of 42 848 children, aged 2 to 33 months, who were enrolled in a randomised trial of a Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine in the western region of the Gambia, and who were admitted with an acute lower respiratory tract infection to two of three hospitals. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of hypoxaemia, defined as an arterial oxygen saturation