Pulse Oximetry Readings Are Less Accurate for Black, Hispanic, and Asian People With COVID-19
Pulse oximeter devices, a common tool used to guide medical decision-making in COVID-19 patients, overestimated the blood oxygen levels in nonwhite patients with COVID-19 and made them appear healthier than they actually were, according to a new study published May 31 in JAMA Internal Medicine.These findings add to the growing body of evidence about pulse oximetry inaccuracies in people of color, says the study's co-lead author Ashraf Fawzy, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “Our research is the first to show that the overestimation of oxygen saturation among Black and Hispanic patients led to a delayed recognition of the need for COVID-19 therapy compared with white patients,” says Dr. Fawzy.That’s because oxygen saturation levels are often used to determine…