Pulse oximeters use light to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood (SpO2). For most people, a normal pulse oximeter reading is between 95% and 100%, with readings below 90-92% generally considered ...

Pulse oximeters were invented in 1974, and the evidence of flawed pulse oximeter readings in people with dark skin dates to the 1980s. One study, published in 2022, found that among more than 3,000 ...

Fingertip Blood Oxygen Monitors Are Less Accurate For People Of Color, Study Finds By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterFRIDAY, Jan. 16, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Most everyone’s seen one in a doctor’s ...

In the EXAKT study from the U.K., the home-use pulse oximeters assessed all gave higher oxygen saturation (SpO2) readings for patients with darker skin tones than for patients with lighter skin tones.

The patient was in his 60s, an African American man with emphysema. The oximeter placed on his fingertip registered well above the 88% blood oxygen saturation level that signals an urgent risk of ...

The patient was in his 60s, an African American man with emphysema. The oximeter placed on his fingertip registered well above the 88% blood oxygen saturation level that signals an urgent risk of ...

In a suit filed against CVS, Walgreens, GE Healthcare and many other medical technology companies and sellers of pulse oximeters – devices that use light to measure oxygen saturation in the blood – ...

Dr. Takuo Aoyagi, a Japanese bioengineer, was the first to invent pulse oximetry in 1974. 2 The pulse oximeter is based on the light absorption characteristics of hemoglobin at different wavelengths.