Oxygen Saturation Levels

Sleepy,

Let's see how I can put this. Oxygen Sat (as measured by a pulse ox) is a percentage of hemoglobin bound with oxygen molecules. So lets just say for fun that there is 100 hemoblogin in a healthy adult. An SaO2 of 100% would mean that all 100 are bound with oxygen molecules. But someone with only 75 hemoglobin and has an SaO2 of 100% still only has 75 hemoglobin bound with oxygen. Now keeping that in mind look at 95% of 100 hemoglobin versus 95% of 75 hemoglobin. You will see that the actual amount of oxygen getting to the cellular level is greatly reduced even though the saturation is an acceptable percentage.

Being anemic for whatever reason will greatly affect a persons get up and go. This is most likely due to the hypoxia that is occuring at a cellular level.

Later
Jeff

Thanks Jeff!