Mathilde Papin News Today

According to a systematic review and meta-analysis published today (Tuesday) at the European Emergency Medicine Congress, pulse oximetry is an unreliable approach for identifying persons who are suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning and it should not be used for this reason.

Pulse oximetry had a sensitivity of 77% in identifying carbon monoxide cases and a specificity of 83%, with an overall accuracy of 86%. Researchers said thats too many missed cases for it to be used.