Racial and ethnic discrepancy in pulse oximetry and delayed identification of treatment eligibility among patients with Covid-19 (31 May 2022)

Summary

This retrospective cohort study in JAMA Internal Medicine aimed to determine whether there are systematic racial and ethnic biases in pulse oximetry among patients with Covid-19, and whether these biases result in patients not being accurately recognised as candidates for oxygen threshold–specific therapy.

The authors found that patients from racial and ethnic minority groups with Covid-19 are often subject to overestimation of arterial oxygen saturation levels. This contributes to them not being recognised, or a delay in them being recognised, as eligible to receive Covid-19 therapies.

Content

Related reading

Pulse oximetry and racial bias: Recommendations for national healthcare, regulatory and research bodies (March 2021)