Pulse Oximetry: Racial and Ethnic Disparities Clinically Significant

Eric Gottlieb, MD

Two recent studies found racial and ethnic disparities in pulse oximetry (SpO₂), one of which included patients in the ICU before COVID-19 and the other among ICU patients with COVID-19.

“Pulse oximeters read differently on patients of different races,” said Eric Gottlieb, MD, a hospitalist at Mount Auburn Hospital, in Cambridge, Mass., and the first author of the ICU study (JAMA Intern Med 2022;182[8]:849-858).

The retrospective cohort study gleaned critical care