Pluse Oximeters

[RedMarauder]

Back last year when we were in the first lockdown in the UK I came across some American news articles, which I then checked the scientific journal references for, said pulse oximeters don't work on dark skin.

I then saw YouTube videos by various doctors whose qualifications check out who said the same thing.

I'm watching BBC News and they are now reporting that they don't work. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58032842.amp

How many black and brown people have died because of this?

I wonder how long they’ve had an inclination of dubious readings for black people? Disgraceful if they suspected and didn’t use or combine other diagnostics to measure saturation levels.

I saw a small US study dated 2005 which recommended, at the very least, warnings on the oximeters about inaccuracies due to dark pigmentation skin.

pubs.asahq.org/anesthesiology/article/102/4/715/7364/Effects-of-Skin-Pigmentation-on-Pulse-Oximeter

There is another US one with a larger sample study dated 2007 with similar results.

Then there are more and more over the years. Here is a more recent one from the Boston Review. in 2020.
bostonreview.net/science-nature-race/amy-moran-thomas-how-popular-medical-device-encodes-racial-bias

The UK is slow off the mark on this one. The information has been around a long time. It's a disgrace.