Pulse oxi during movement (and sleep)

Hi all,
I have borrowed a contec sleep apnea screen meter rs01 and measured a few times. It recorded 10 hours each time.
My SpO2 drops quite a bit, but I worry about movement causing it.

I have read moving during pulse oxi measurements makes it unreliable, and there is a significant decrease of measured SpO2 during motion of the hand, while a blood test at the same test gives normal SpO2.
What is the use of an overnight measurement, since we move when we sleep?

What is a significant decrease? What is the % I can take as a decrease caused by movement?

I mean, a drop to 95% is it caused by simply turning and is the blood actually 98%?
What about 86%. Is this simply a bit of movement because of a weird dream?
And 74% maybe a very exciting dream?
I can not seem to find any scientific information as to how much the % drops during movement, and what is clinically relevant.

I find when there is no line or the pulse rises and o2 dips sharply, it's a fault, other than that it seems accurate enough. You can put a chart up if you like

When they talk about movement being the cause of the drop in Oxygen I think they are referring to movement of the oximeter on the finger....loss of contact artifact which causes the device to report low O2. Not because the O2 was low but because the device loss contact and couldn't sense properly.

Turning over in bed movement shouldn't cause a drop in O2 levels but it might cause the device to lose contact with the finger and that loss of contact results in the reported drop in oxygen when there was not really a drop.

Usually these loss of contact artifact drops are easily seen when zooming in on the data...real O2 drops don't normally happen suddenly and severely.
They don't drop fast and they don't come back up fast.

As for how do people reduce the chance of loss of contact artifcats...they sometimes tape the sensor to the finger so it won't slip off.

I dunno, it seems so weird.

This is a measurement while I was awake (it measured 10 hours), so more movement than during sleep I guess:

Pulse 147, spo2 89% for a a while. Then “pulse artefact, spo2 artefact” (I guess it moved?), then pulse 62 and spo2 86%. After an hour it slowly goes back to 91 %. Again an “artafact” and back to 86%.

I wonder if the measurement during real movement like walking around, brushing teeth, undressing, etc, it is unreliable and the 86% isn’t really that low.

If you are using it while awake and moving around, brushing your teeth etc. it would miscount, It should return to normal as soon as you stop. there is no aftermath. As soon as the light starts to blink, there is no accurate reading. You can get a probe that clicks to the ear and such.
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emmayes wrote:Hi all,
I have borrowed a contec sleep apnea screen meter rs01 and measured a few times. It recorded 10 hours each time.
My SpO2 drops quite a bit, but I worry about movement causing it.

I have read moving during pulse oxi measurements makes it unreliable, and there is a significant decrease of measured SpO2 during motion of the hand, while a blood test at the same test gives normal SpO2.
What is the use of an overnight measurement, since we move when we sleep?

What is a significant decrease? What is the % I can take as a decrease caused by movement?

I mean, a drop to 95% is it caused by simply turning and is the blood actually 98%?
What about 86%. Is this simply a bit of movement because of a weird dream?
And 74% maybe a very exciting dream?
I can not seem to find any scientific information as to how much the % drops during movement, and what is clinically relevant.

Because what you are thinking is false.

Movement artifacts cause *momentary* loss of signal, and may result in a sharp drop from say 92% to 5% and back again... which is of course, impossible, They don't cause 'false readings'.

To agree with the crowd here your movement does not effect accuracy. In fact they have people move all the time to see if they need supplemental oxygen while doing exercise.
Take your reports to Dr and see if they will order there own oximetry test for you

unless your o2 drops below 88% for a total of 6 minutes over the full nights sleep, don't worry about it. doctors order and insurance pays for an o2 concentrator if you drop below that threshold. above that, you're good.

Our body normally consumes oxygen every time we do a job but, the oximeter will rise and fall gradually and directly proportional to the intensity of the work, there will be no fast peaks. If you are in bed, no movement is sufficient to have very low or oscillating oxygen. Check with your family member if the oximeter behaves as it does with you and assess if it is time for a check by your pulmonologist.
Hello,
Oltremare

greatunclebill wrote:unless your o2 drops below 88% for a total of 6 minutes over the full nights sleep, don't worry about it. doctors order and insurance pays for an o2 concentrator if you drop below that threshold. above that, you're good.

It’s 86% for about an hour, and a often under 92%. Since I am young, non smoker and slim, I do think it is too low.

USMCVet wrote:To agree with the crowd here your movement does not effect accuracy. In fact they have people move all the time to see if they need supplemental oxygen while doing exercise.
Take your reports to Dr and see if they will order there own oximetry test for you

I do want to test it during a day, since most of my breathlessness is during the day.
Is it useful to try it on during the day? Measure for 8 hours doing normal stuff?

I guess it’s the sharp drops that are false, correct? I did not see any sharp drops, only gradual wave like drops.

I tried putting the results here but since it was opened on someone elses laptop without internet, it didn’t really work.

If it's gradual, I'd trust it more.
The sharp drops I'd look more closely at to see if it's a glitch, are singular lines dropping from those either side. I have the soft rubber finger sensor and can see it mess up in real time, when connected to the computer through the usb. Play with the unit and see how yours reacts.