A research team from the University of Washington developed a smartphone system that can measure blood oxygen levels, via the devices camera and flash mechanisms.

An unmodified smartphone camera has detected 79% of cases of abnormally low blood oxygen levels in a six-subject study.

The research, details of which were published in the journal npj Digital Medicine, expands on earlier smartphone-based oximetry projects by studying blood-oxygen saturation levels of as low as 70%.

One of the six subjects, who identified as African-American, had a dark skin tone but the dataset is too limited for the researchers to conclude if the device suffers from the accuracy problems of standalone pulse oximeters.

Read the full article at MedTech Dive.