Oxygen Equipment Across the World Works Properly on White People Only: Study

A United States (US) study revealed that dark-skinned patients get less oxygen in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to a technical defect in the pulse oximeter used worldwide.

The pulse oximeter device, invented in the 1970s, is clipped on a patient’s finger to assess the hemoglobin by using red and infrared light. It is also known to generate falsely elevated oxygen levels in people with a darker skin tone.

In new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine, Eric Raphael Gottlieb and his team evaluated the records of 3,069 patients who spent at least 12 hours at the ICU of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, USA.

They compared the oxygen saturation results on the oximeter device to the accurate directly taken readings of hemoglobin oxygen saturation.

They discovered that Asian, Hispanic, and Black patients were given 0.2 to 0.4 liters per minute less oxygen than the white-skinned patients.

The research team wrote, “Our findings present a unique and compelling opportunity to improve equity through device reengineering and by reevaluating how data are interpreted”.

In another recent study, it was discovered that the measurement biases in the oxygen saturation levels were linked with a time delay in eligibility for COVID-19 treatment for Hispanic and Black patients.

An accompanying editor’s note revealed that devices that function more equitably also exist, however, they have not been widely distributed.

The editorial read, “Healthcare systems, including academic centers, are large-scale purchasers of pulse oximeters,” adding that “If they make a commitment to buying only the devices that function across skin tones, manufacturers would respond.”

You can access the research paper here.