Pulse Oximeters More Useful in COVID Screening for Older Adults

A new commentary by Washington State University College of Nursing Professors Catherine Van Son and Deborah Eti in Frontiers in Medicine proposes that a pulse oximeter is more useful than taking temperature to check for COVID infection in older adults, reports EurekAlert . Their paper said baseline temperatures are lower in older adults, which means a fever may be missed using the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's standard definition of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Moreover, some COVID-19 patients have no visible signs of low oxygen levels, like shortness of breath, yet have oxygen saturation under 90 percent — which can be associated with very poor outcomes. Van Son and Eti recommend considering wide use of inexpensive, portable pulse oximeters in COVID screenings of older adults, as they can detect changes in oxygen saturation without other infection indications. They concluded, "Earlier interventions could help patients avoid highly invasive procedures (i.e., intubation) and improve the allocation of scarce healthcare resources."