Detection of Oxygen saturation (SpO2) in Newborns of varying skin colour.

About 10% of infants worldwide require some form of stabilization during the process of transition from prenatal (foetal) to postnatal (newborn) life. In healthy infants, oxygen saturation gradually increases over time and is a significant neonatal instrument for determining newborn stabilisation. Hence, monitoring SpO2 could strengthen support transitioning of newborn babies and promote early interventions. However, in a stressful environment of a delivery room, conventional technologies such as pulse oximetry are restricted due to motion artifacts and poor tissue perfusion at the peripheral sites (such as wrist, toes, or fingers) that could potentially delay resuscitation efforts. Additionally, the colour of the patient's skin is a potential factor that may have a negative impact on the accuracy of
pulse oximetry. For instance, through the recent COVID-19 pandemic, pulse oximetry measurement error has become a major concern for clinicians measuring SpO2 in individuals with elevated skin pigmentation. It turns out that compared to white skin patients, in patients with other ethnic groups, oxygen saturation measurements obtained from pulse oximeters may be an overestimate of the actual value.

Therefore, developing more robust signal processing techniques and advance optical sensors that consider movement artifacts perfusion and ethnicity could improve the delivery of timely medical care from newborns and adults