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today we'll talk about pulse oximeters or oxygen saturation level monitors we'll tell you
why we need them how to use them and how to interpret their values
health awareness is more and more in the focus so it happens that many people want to control their
vital signs at home oxygen saturation levels can forewarn of chronic lung diseases asthma or sleep
apnea syndrome especially with the shortness of breath and general respiratory limitations
monitoring spo2 is crucial a pulse oximeter is a device that allows you to measure the oxygen
saturation of the arterial blood without the need for arterial blood sampling all this sounds
very complicated basically these small devices show you in addition to the current pulse rate
the oxygen saturation of the blood why is this so important well the best way to determine how
well the lungs are functioning and measurement of systemic oxygen delivery to tissues is by using
the oxygen saturation measurement let's look at how spo2 is measured before the pulse oximeters
were freely available the spo2 measurement as we know it is done by a pulse oximeter or a fitness
tracker but it was previously accomplished by a very complicated procedure namely arterial blood
gas analysis it was generally performed in the hospital with the nurse taking blood from your
wrist process was painful not cheap and quite lengthy let's discuss how the pulse oximeter
works and what it actually measures an oximeter uses leds emitting both red and infrared light
a photo detector is positioned on the other side of the finger opposite the leds and detects the
amount of light whether it is red or infrared light passing through the measurement site
the amount of light absorbed depends on how much oxygen the hemoglobin in your
blood is carrying let's pretend these red shapes are hemoglobin and as we all know
hemoglobin is a package of red blood cells and it has a key function of transporting oxygen
to the body tissues the test relies on the fact that oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin
absorb different wavelengths of light the oximeter then displays your spo2 level the values range
from 35 to 99 percent generally a value over 93 percent is satisfactory now in order for the pulse
oximeter to give you accurate results you have to prepare your finger as well as know which finger
to put it on most healthcare workers select your index finger for spo2 measurement but it has been
proven that the most accurate value is given by using the middle finger secondary by accuracy
is your thumb another key point to remember is to use the middle finger on your dominant
hand so if you're right-handed place the pulse oximeter on the middle finger of your right hand
also because the oximeter's operating principle is light absorption make sure that the nail in your
finger does not have any nail polish as this may obscure the reliability of the reading as
this test will show fitness trackers monitor your spo2 just as accurately as finger pulse oximeters
a number of people have asked us about the heart rate and spo2 readings accuracy on smart watches
and fitness trackers hence we brought some along for the purpose of this review
the spo2 level recorded by senbono sp02 was fluctuating between 98 and 99 percent
and the same level was recorded by the latest watch from honor the honor magic watch 2. in
fact the medical grade finger pulse ox also showed my spo2 at 98 and 99 let's see how
the heart rate monitor works and once again the so2 held its own by matching the magic watch 2
and the finger pulse ox monitor these results point us to the conclusion that fitness trackers
provide as much value and in many cases more so than the standalone finger pulse oximeters
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