Although hypothesized to be the root cause of the pulse oximetry disparities, skin tone and its use for improving medical therapies have yet to be extensively studied. Studies that previously used self-reported race as a proxy variable for skin tone cannot account for skin tone variabilities within race groups. This study aimed to create a unique baseline dataset that included skin tone and electronic health record (EHR) data to better evaluate health disparities associated with pulse oximetry. We collected skin tone data at 16 different body locations using multiple devices, including administered visual scales, colorimetric, spectrophotometric, and photography via mobile phone cameras. All patients' data were converted into a common data model and de-identified before publication in PhysioNet. We assessed 167 features per skin location on 128 patients linked with their EHR data, such as laboratory data, vital sign recordings, and demographic information. We also include 2,438 images from mobile phones to assist in developing artificial intelligence tools to combat health disparities.
Hao et al. (Wed,) studied this question.