Oxygen saturation measurements in telemonitoring of patients with COPD: a systematic review

Introduction: Telemonitoring applications are expected to become a key component in future healthcare. Despite the frequent use of SpO2 measurements in telemonitoring of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), no profound overview is available about these measurements.Areas covered: A systematic search identified 71 articles that performed SpO2 measurements in COPD telemonitoring. The results indicate that long-term follow-up of COPD patients using daily SpO2 spot checks is practically feasible. Very few studies specified protocols for performing these measurements. In many studies, deviating SpO2 values were used to raise alerts that led to immediate action from healthcare professionals. However, little information was available about the exact implementation and performance of these alerts. Therefore, no firm conclusions can be drawn about the real value of SpO2 measurements. Future research could optimize performance of alerts using individualized, time-dependent thresholds or predictive algorithms to account for individual differences and SpO2 baseline changes. Additionally, the value of performing continuous measurements should be examined.Expert commentary: Standardization of the measurements, data science techniques and advancing technology can still boost performance of telemonitoring applications. All these opportunities should be thoroughly explored to assess the real value of SpO2 in COPD telemonitoring.