Racial and Ethnic Discrepancy in Pulse Oximetry and Delayed Identification of Treatment Eligibility Among Patients With COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Pulse oximetry guides triage and therapy decisions for COVID-19. Whether reported racial inaccuracies in oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry are present in patients with COVID-19 and associated with treatment decisions is unknown.

Objective

To determine whether there is differential inaccuracy of pulse oximetry by race or ethnicity among patients with COVID-19 and estimate the association of such inaccuracies with time to recognition of eligibility for oxygen threshold-specific COVID-19 therapies.

Design, setting, and participants

This retrospective cohort study of clinical data from 5 referral centers and community hospitals in the Johns Hopkins Health System included patients with COVID-19 who self-identified as Asian, Black, Hispanic, or White.<

SUBMITTER: Fawzy A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9257583 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature