Episode Details

Pulse oximeters—devices used to read blood oxygen levels in hospitals and at home—are far less reliable for people with darker skin tones. Falsely normal readings have the potential for clinical staff to miss life-threatening conditions.

In this three-episode special series, we explore a longstanding issue that only caught the nation’s attention in recent years. In episode 2: What went wrong, including inaction from manufacturers and regulators, market forces, and racism in medicine that goes beyond this one device.

Listen to Part 1: A Problem Hiding in Plain Sight.

Listen to Part 3: Fixing Pulse Oximeters.

View the transcript for this episode.

Nicole Jurmo is co-producer of the Public Health in the Field series on pulse oximeters, the associate director for public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and a current MPH student. She recently completed a practicum with the Public Health On Call podcast.

• The Problem with Pulse Oximeters: A Long History of Racial Bias

• Racial Bias in Pulse Oximetry Measurement—The New England Journal of Medicine

• Pulse Oximeters Are Not Racist—Orange County Business Journal

• Inventing conflicts of interest: a history of tobacco industry tactics—American Journal of Public Health

• Performance Evaluation of Pulse Oximeters Taking Into Consideration Skin Pigmentation, Race and Ethnicity—FDA Executive Summary (pdf)

• Pulse Oximeter Accuracy and Limitations—FDA Safety Communication

• Dynamic in vivo response characteristics of three oximeters: Hewlett Packard 47201A, Biox III, and Nellcor N-100—Sleep (1987)

• Racial bias is built into the design of pulse oximeters—The Washington Post

• November 2023 Attorneys General Letter to the FDA On The Inaccuracies of Pulse Oximetry When Used On People With Darker Toned Skin (pdf)

• Defining race/ethnicity and explaining difference in research studies on lung function—European Respiratory Journal (abstract)

• Is Facial Recognition Software Racist?—The Daily Show

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