A clinical evaluation of the accuracy of the Nellcor N-100 and Ohmeda 3700 pulse oximeters
Abstract
Two pulse oximeters, the Nellcor N-100 and the Ohmeda 3700, were compared with arterial blood values and with each other in a clinical evaluation of performance. Three hundred twenty-nine simultaneously sampled blood/oximeter data pairs from use of both makes of pulse oximeters on each of 152 test subjects were included in the comparison analysis for each oximeter. Among the patients, disease type and severity and hospital location varied widely. Basic descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were employed to facilitate comparison. Both oximeters displayed a statistically significant but clinically insignificant bias when compared with arterial blood oxyhemoglobin: -0.31 (P = 0.023) and 0.59 (P = 0.001) for the Ohmeda 3700 pulse oximeter and the Nellcor N-100 pulse oximeter, respectively. Relative to arterial blood oxyhemoglobin, the 95% tolerance intervals were +4.84 to -5.45 (10.3) for the Ohmeda 3700 and +6.94 to -5.76 (12.7) for the Nellcor N-100. Regressed against [oxyhemoglobin + carboxyhemoglobin + methemoglobin] as x, the Nellcor N-100 read y = 0.85(x) + 12.5, r = 0.83, P less than 0.0001, and the Ohmeda 3700 read y = 1.02(x) - 5.3, r = 0.86, P less than 0.0001.
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A pioneering study comparing two pulse oximeters on 152 patients showed a statistically significant loss of accuracy in SpO2 readings for dark-skinned patients for one device.
“A pioneering study to compare two pulse oximeters on 152 patients showed a statistically significant loss of accuracy in SpO2 readings for dark-skinned patients for one device [43].”
From Skin pigmentation influence on pulse oximetry accuracy: a systematic review and bibliometric analysis (2022) · cites this paper as [43]
The skin pigmentation effect on pulse oximetry accuracy has long been studied, reporting some contradictory conclusions.
“The skin pigmentation effect on pulse oximetry accuracy has long been studied reporting some contradictory conclusions.”
From Skin pigmentation influence on pulse oximetry accuracy: a systematic review and bibliometric analysis (2022) · cites this paper as [43]
Other subjective scales were employed in 13 studies (35.14%).
“and other subjective scales were employed in 13 studies (35.14%) [30,42,43,44,45,50,52,56,72,78,80,87,88].”
From Skin pigmentation influence on pulse oximetry accuracy: a systematic review and bibliometric analysis (2022) · cites this paper as [43]
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- Authors
- Cecil, W. T., Thorpe, K. J., Fibuch, E. E., & Tuohy, G. F.
- Affiliations
- Saint Luke's Hospital (US)
- ORCID
- Cecil, William T.
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Monitoring
- Published
- 1988-01
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 31-36
- ISSN
- 1387-1307 (ISSN-L)
- 0748-1977
- 1573-2614
- OpenAlex
- W2006936900
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 6.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Non-Invasive Vital Sign Monitoring
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Hemodynamic Monitoring and Therapy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Keywords
- pulse oximetry, arterial oxygen saturation, oxyhemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin, methemoglobin, measurement bias, tolerance intervals, device comparison
- MeSH terms
- Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Monitoring, Physiologic, Oximetry, Regression Analysis
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