Posted on 12/19/2020 9:46:40 PM PST by nickcarraway
Now blood oxygen sensors are RACIST!
Don’t tell BLM. All they need is a new reason to march around, blocking traffic.
Actually it makes me wonder if certain races have hemoglobin that have an affinity for binding or not binding oxygen. Pulse ox actually measures the ratio of oxygenated Hgb and deoxygenated Hgb a the level of the capillary. (If memory serves its the ratio of absorption of 585 nm to 545 nm but I could be off a few mm in either Direction)
In cases of deranged Hgb such as methemoglobinenia or carboxyhemofglobinemia the pulse ox will be incorrect. Given then tendency of miscalculation it stands to reason there may be an increased amount of atypical Hgb. Wonder if sickle cell trait plays into this or other genetic variations.
It’s an interesting study.
We need someone to post the thats racist kid.
That is a very interesting theory. It would serve the medical community well, if they started ordering ABGs on those that have a higher level of skin pigmentation. Once they know definitively that their patient has an set decrease by a certain percentage point, then they can accurately adjust the oxygen level to reflect the real numbers.
And checking for sickle cell could well be a factor for that miscalculation. Just like having decrease in available O2 at a higher altitude can trigger a sickle cell crisis, it is a very reasonable probability that COVID and other breathing issues could trigger a similar crisis that goes undetected with a traditional pulse ox meter.
Anyone that invents a pulse ox that can be calibrated to allow for a more accurate ABG, would be nominated for awards. This is very similar to the PTT readings that are converted to the INR standard so that everyone is on the same page as to what their real readings are so that their Coumadin can be adjusted no matter the methodology used to perform the PTT.
By oxygen level I mean the blood oxygen level, not the supplemental oxygen that is being provided to the patient.
but no, we have to have studies designed to point out how rasist machines can be....
who is the ninkenpoop who would follow just ONE sign for a diagnosis?....
no single test for anything is absolutely perfect...
Reality is racist, apparently.
One would hope that anyone being checked in the ED for Covid or any other breathing issue is going to have a CBC done as part of the lab work. A CBC will easily diagnose anemia by the Hgb and the Hct, as well as the differential. I don’t think that a sickle cell test is routinely done unless the patient is already diagnosed with Sickle cell.
I will call one of my BFFs about this tomorrow. She is head of the Lab Hemotology Dept. for the hospital where she works. She is brilliant, and will be intrigued by this idea. She and I have had several in-depth conversation about Covid.
Govt study in 1993 noted that blacks with sickle cell disease should hormally have pulse oximetry levels below normal.
A current cdc report notes that 1 out of 365 black births have sickle cell disease and about 100,000 black Americans have sickle cell disease.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/data.html
You would think that testing for sickle cell would be standard procedure for people of African descent who are having a blood test anyways. Is testing for that unusually difficult or expensive? Just wondering - I’m not a doctor.
The solution is simple. Pulse oximetry device makers just need to compile in the Biden Dominion code, so blacks will get readings 120% higher than non-blacks.
Not racial bias.
Racial difference.
How about poorly controlled Type II diabetes, would that also also raise hob with a reliable reading...?
It’s possible that a simple mod of the pulse oximeters could improve accuracy.
Simply add a test for skin pigmentation....just shine an LED on the skin and read the amount of returned light and then adjust settings....should improve accuracy.
p.s. I hated drawing blood from the underside of the wrist...OUCH!
There’s no such thing as race.
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