Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Performance of pulse oximeters as a function of race compared to skin pigmentation: a single center retrospective study
Authors' conclusion
There was no clinically significant association between error rates and Massey-Martin scale grades and no clinically significant difference in accuracy observed between self-reported Black and White patients.
Study context
- Population
- Peri-operative patients enrolled in unrelated clinical trials with arterial blood gases (PaO2 ≤ 125 mmHg) and time-matched SpO24,030 paired SaO2-SpO2 values
- Participants
- 579 patients
- Exposure
- SpO2 accuracy (SaO2-SpO2) by Massey-Martin skin pigmentation score vs self-reported race
- Outcome
- Incidence of occult hypoxemia and accuracy of pulse oximetry (SaO2-SpO2 error) by Massey-Martin scale
Methodological detailssingle-centre
- Single-centre
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Average error (SaO2-SpO2)
Overall average error (SaO2-SpO2) ± SD, %
0.23 ± 2.6%
Range of average errors across Massey scores (statistically significant differences)
- 0.39 ± 2.3 to 0.53 ± 2.5
Range of average errors across races (statistically significant differences)
- 0.55 ± 2.1 to 0.37 ± 2.7
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
- Skin color varied widely within each self-identified race category
Original publication
Performance of pulse oximeters as a function of race compared to skin pigmentation: a single center retrospective study. J Clin Monit Comput. Published 28 August 2024. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →