A smartphone camera may soon help measure the amount of oxygen in the blood, according to new research. Researchers from the University of Washington say the technology involves placing a finger over the camera and the flash. Artificial intelligence decodes levels from flow patterns in the resulting video.
The technology can detect early signs of dangerous drops in oxygen levels among corona patients and predict asthma attacks before they occur. Our body needs 95 percent “oxygen saturation”. Respiratory diseases can cause this to drop below 90 percent, leading to the need for inhalation tubes or oxygen masks.
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The study found the device was accurate 80 percent of the time when researchers used a chemical cocktail to lower levels in young volunteers. “Other smartphone apps that do this have been developed by asking people to hold their breath, but people feel very uncomfortable and need to breathe after a minute or so and that’s before their blood oxygen levels have dropped enough to represent the full range of clinically relevant data,” says the lead researcher. Jason Hoffman. “With our test, we can collect 15 minutes of data from each subject. Our data shows that smartphones can work well right within the critical threshold range,” he added.
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When we breathe in, our lungs are filled with oxygen. This is carried to other organs by red blood cells – providing an indication of the fitness and health of the heart. Viruses and allergies impair oxygen absorption. In the clinic, monitors called heart rate monitors – clips, placed over the tip of the finger or the ear – help measure this. A smartphone would be much more efficient, since “almost everyone has one,” according to the Seattle team.