Simon Matthews - Member - The Prepared

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Reply to: Cold or COVID-19? How to use a pulse oximeter to tell if your lungs are in trouble Posted June 23, 2020

Please also be aware of the inherent inaccuracy of the devices. Even with good quality devices, the true value can be +/-2% from their stated readout. This isn’t an issue with the quality of the devices per se, but an unavoidable feature of the testing method itself. This means that a single reading of 94% isn’t necessarily worrying, just as a single reading of 96% isn’t necessarily reassuring in and of itself. It’s so important to pay attention to trends. Several readings of 94% are far more likely to be a true reflection of your blood oxygen saturation due to regression to the mean. If you are getting readings 93%, 95%, 96%, 94% it’s best to err on the side of caution and take the lower end of the trend. False caution is safer than false reassurance 🙂

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Reply to: Cold or COVID-19? How to use a pulse oximeter to tell if your lungs are in trouble Posted June 23, 2020

Please also be aware of the inherent inaccuracy of the devices. Even with good quality devices, the true value can be +/-2% from their stated readout. This isn’t an issue with the quality of the devices per se, but an unavoidable feature of the testing method itself. This means that a single reading of 94% isn’t necessarily worrying, just as a single reading of 96% isn’t necessarily reassuring in and of itself. It’s so important to pay attention to trends. Several readings of 94% are far more likely to be a true reflection of your blood oxygen saturation due to regression to the mean. If you are getting readings 93%, 95%, 96%, 94% it’s best to err on the side of caution and take the lower end of the trend. False caution is safer than false reassurance 🙂