As a triple threat of respiratory illnesses – flu, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV – sweeps the United States, emergency departments are using one small tool more than usual to ...

Scientists have long known that pulse oximeters are less accurate when used for people with dark skin tones – and now, a new report offers some insight into just how much more inaccurate these ...

Roots Community Health Center was slammed in 2020, with lines for its COVID-19 testing stations stretching around the block and exam rooms full of people struggling to breathe. Patient after patient ...

A portable device used to detect blood oxygen levels revolutionized the medical field 50 years ago and is now receiving essential updates Efforts to improve the accuracy of pulse oximetry readings for ...

For most people, a normal pulse oximeter reading is between 95% and 100%, with readings below 90-92% generally considered low and requiring medical attention. They are known to be affected by several ...

The FDA is convening a panel of experts to determine a better way to evaluate pulse oximeter readings so that they provide more accurate data for patients of color, the agency announced Feb. 2. Pulse ...

Tucked away in some Garmin watches is a sensor that enables continuous blood oxygen monitoring, a feature the company refers to as ‘Pulse Ox’. You may have seen the feature appear in menus or in ...

In the EXAKT study from the U.K., the home-use pulse oximeters assessed all gave higher oxygen saturation (SpO2) readings for patients with darker skin tones than for patients with lighter skin tones.

Tiffany Kinyua is a psychology major with a minor in biology and she is a 2025-26 health care ethics intern at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Views are her own.

Black people in the hospital are 31.9% more likely than White patients to have pulse oximeter readings that overestimate their oxygen levels by at least 4 percentage points, according to data ...