What Do These Pulse Oximeter Readings Indicate?

Posted on Wed, 4 Oct 2017

Question: attached are the results from my overnight pulse oximeter. is there anything I should be worried about?

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
I would explain as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for asking on HCM!

I carefully reviewed your uploaded images and would explain that those drops in blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep could indicate possible sleep apnea.

Are you overweight? Do you smoke?

Coming to this point, if you have other symptoms like increased sleepiness during the day, or if you snore during sleep, I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a careful physical exam and some tests to investigate for sleep apnea:

- a chest X ray study and pulmonary function tests
- a polysomnography.

Otherwise, if you are not overweight, and don't have any of the above symptoms, there is nothing to worry about.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask me again!

Kind regards,

Dr.Iliri

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar