The desaturation response time of finger pulse oximeters during mild hypothermia*
Abstract
Summary: Pulse oximeters may delay displaying the correct oxygen saturation during the onset of hypoxia. We investigated the desaturation response times of pulse oximeter sensors (forehead, ear and finger) during vasoconstriction due to mild hypothermia and vasodilation caused by glyceryl trinitrate. Ten healthy male volunteers were given three hypoxic challenges of 3 min duration under differing experimental conditions. Mild hypothermia increased the mean response time of finger oximeters from 130 to 215 s. Glyceryl trinitrate partly offset this effect by reducing the response time from 215 to 187 s. In contrast, the response times of the forehead and ear oximeters were unaffected by mild hypothermia, but the difference between head and finger oximeters was highly significant (p < 0.0001). The results suggest that the head oximeters provide a better monitoring site for pulse oximeters during mild hypothermia.
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For infants who experience hypothermia or low body temperatures, distal measurement locations like the hand and foot often face limited perfusion to protect vital organs.
“In addition, for infants who experience hypothermia or low body temperatures, which is common for infants in the Ethiopian NICU, distal measurement locations like the hand and foot often face limited perfusion to protect vital organs8–11.”
From Soft, all-in-one, nanomembrane wearable system for advancing neonatal health monitoring in Ethiopia (2025) · cites this paper as [9]
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Zhou, L., Aljiffry, A., Lee, Y. J., Matthews, J., Seitter, B., Soltis, I., Huang, Y., Maher, K., & Yeo, W.-H. (2025) · Biosensors and Bioelectronics · doi:10.1016/j.bios.2025.117372 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Soft, all-in-one, nanomembrane wearable system for advancing neonatal health monitoring in Ethiopia
Zhou, L., Joseph, M., Lee, Y. J., Yadav, D., Nayak, L., Woodall, J., Matthews, J., Soltis, I., Mekuria, F. M., Yeshanew, K. H., et al. (2025) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-025-01974-8 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- MacLeod, D. B., Cortinez, L. I., Keifer, J. C., Cameron, D., Wright, D. R., White, W. D., Moretti, E. W., Radulescu, L. R., & Somma, J.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (GB)
- Duke Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- MacLeod, D. B.
- Venue
- Anaesthesia
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2004-12-13
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 65-71
- ISSN
- 0003-2409 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2044
- OpenAlex
- W2150257143
- Cited by
- 98
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 3.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Anaesthesia (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 › Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine › Thermal Regulation in Medicine
- Keywords
- pulse oximetry, mild hypothermia, hypoxia, vasoconstriction, vasodilation, nitroglycerin, oxygen saturation monitoring
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Hypoxia, Anthropometry, Fingers, Nitroglycerin, Humans, Hypothermia, Male, Monitoring, Physiologic, Oximetry, Reaction Time, Vasoconstriction, Vasodilation, Vasodilator Agents
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