Expression of Concern: Defining the Reference Range for Oxygen Saturation for Infants After Birth

The editors of Pediatrics are issuing this Expression of Concern regarding the article “Defining the Reference Range for Oxygen Saturation for Infants After Birth” (doi.org/10.1542/peds.2009-1510), published on June 1, 2010.After receiving an inquiry in the summer of 2025 questioning the integrity of the data presented in Table 3 of this article, it was determined that the time for infants to reach oxygen saturation (SPo2) targets of greater than 70%, greater than 80%, greater than 90%, and greater than 95% did not seem consistent with the findings from Table 2, the median and interquartile range of SPo2 from 1 to 10 minutes after birth.The editorial board reviewed the matter and obtained an independent analysis using the data available in the report based on a simulation study using the distributions provided in the figures. Based on 1000 replicates of 2000 simulated infants, the median time for infants to first exceed 70% SPo2 was approximately 1.41 minutes with a narrow range across simulations (1.31–1.49 minutes), which is less than the 5-minute median reported in Table 3. The editorial board recognizes that there may be other explanations for these discrepant findings, and simulation alone cannot identify whether there is an error in this report. Because more than 15 years have passed since publication of this article, the study authors cannot repeat the analysis because they no longer have access to the primary data.In accordance with Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines, this Expression of Concern is being issued to alert readers about the potential discrepancy in data reported in this study and reminds readers that much about newborn care has changed over the past 15 years. Pediatrics encourages investigators to report similar findings from a more recent cohort of newborns.