Accuracy of a New Pulse Oximetry in Detection of Arterial Oxygen Saturation and Heart Rate Measurements: The SOMBRERO Study

Early diagnosis and continuous monitoring of respiratory failure (RF) in the course of the most prevalent chronic cardio-vascular (CVD) and respiratory diseases (CRD) are a clinical, unresolved problem because wearable, non-invasive, and user-friendly medical devices, which could grant reliable measures of the oxygen saturation (SpO₂) and heart rate (HR) in real-life during daily activities are still lacking. In this study, we investigated the agreement between a new medical wrist-worn device (BrOxy M) and a reference, medical pulseoximeter (Nellcor PM 1000N). Twelve healthy volunteers (aged 20–51 years, 84% males, 33% with black skin, obtaining, during the controlled hypoxia test, the simultaneous registration of 219 data pairs, homogeneously deployed in the levels of Sat.O₂ 97%, 92%, 87%, 82% [ISO 80601-2-61:2017 standard (paragraph EE.3)]) were included. The paired T test 0 and the Bland-Altman plot were performed to assess bias and accuracy. SpO₂ and HR readings by the two devices resulted significantly correlated (r = 0.91 and 0.96, p < 0.001, respectively). Analyses excluded the presence of proportional bias. For SpO₂, the mean bias was −0.18% and the accuracy (A_RMS) was 2.7%. For HR the mean bias was 0.25 bpm and the A_RMS3.7 bpm. The sensitivity to detect SpO₂ ≤ 94% was 94.4%. The agreement between BrOxy M and the reference pulse oximeter was “substantial” (for SpO₂ cut-off 94% and 90%, k = 0.79 and k = 0.80, respectively). We conclude that BrOxy M demonstrated accuracy, reliability and consistency in measuring SpO₂ and HR, being fully comparable with a reference medical pulseoxymeter, with no adverse effects. As a wearable device, Broxy M can measure continually SpO₂ and HR in everyday life, helping in detecting and following up CVD and CRD subjects.