Pulse oximeters are devices clipped painlessly onto fingers to externally measure blood oxygen levels. That would seem to be a singularly straightforward diagnostic, but new research suggests there is a potential racial bias that might put Black patients at risk.

Oximeters work by passing small beams of light through skin and the blood in the finger, measuring the amount of oxygen based on changes in light absorption. Researchers compared readings from oximeters to arterial gas readings, which measure oxygen directly in blood. They found that 12% of the time, oximeters showed Black patients had safe oxygen levels when arterial readings showed them below safe thresholds. The discrepancy occurred less than 4% of the time in white patients.

The study authors say the results have implications for COVID-19 patients whose oxygen levels must be monitored.

Clowning Around

An analysis of 24 pediatric clinical trials, published in the British Medical Journal, reports that children admitted to hospitals with clowns (no, really, those folks in face paint and funny hair) report less anxiety during medical procedures than kids treated at hospitals without clowns.

That's no small feat.

Get Me That, Stat!

Prescription drug prices have more than doubled in recent years. Writing in JAMA Network Open, researchers looked at pricing data for 14 top-selling drugs from 14.4 million pharmacy claims. They found that the list price of drugs — the cost before discounts or insurance payments, and often not what patients pay — increased 129% between 2010-2016, while median insurance payments increased just 64%. The wholesale price accounted for by rebates and discounts went up by less than 5% during the time period.

Counts

53: percent decrease in emergency department visits for child abuse and neglect during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. compared with the same period in 2019

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Stories for the Waiting Room

In "Mother's Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada," published in 1910, Dr. Thomas Ritter offers many assorted remedies, such as:

— cocaine for hay fever

— chloroform for asthma

— old sour cream for chapped hands

— a paste of gunpowder and vinegar for ringworm

Doc Talk

Syncope: a fancy word for fainting or passing out

Mania of the Week

Clinomania: an excessive desire to stay in bed

Best Medicine

When an employment application asks who is to be notified in case of emergency, write, "a very good doctor."

Hypochondriac's Guide

Vampire syndrome, or what doctors would actually call xeroderma pigmentosum, is a rare skin disorder that causes heightened sensitivity to ultraviolet sunlight. People who have it may be up to 10,000-fold greater risk of developing skin cancer, often experiencing burns and blisters after as little as 10 minutes of sun exposure.

Observation

"I was a Caesarian birth, but you can't really tell, except that every time I leave the house I go out through the window." — comedian Steven Wright (1955-)

Medical History

This week in 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first U.S. city to begin fluoridating drinking water to reduce tooth decay. One part per million of fluoride was added to the water supply.

Self-Exam

Q: Why do things taste weird after you brush your teeth, especially orange juice?

A: Chemicals in toothpaste mess with your taste buds, specifically sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), which help make toothpaste foamy.

Both SLES and SLS suppress tongue receptors that perceive sweetness while simultaneously breaking down the phospholipids (a kind of fat molecule) on the tongue that usually inhibit bitterness. In combination, they accentuate the taste of bitter things while reducing their perceived sweetness.

Fit to Be Tried

There are thousands of exercises and you've only got one body, but that doesn't mean you can't try them all:

The "marching glute bridge" sounds vigorous, but for the most part, you're lying on the floor. Position yourself face up on a mat with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift your hips off the mat into a bridge.

Keeping your right knee bent, lift your right foot off the floor. Try to keep your hips still.

Hold for five seconds and then slowly lower your right foot to the ground, keeping your hips lifted. Lift your left foot off the ground to repeat on the other side.

Curtain Calls

A 28-year-old Illinois man named Daniel Wyman drowned after he and a companion inadvertently blew a hole in the bottom of their boat with an M-250 firecracker — the equivalent of one-quarter a stick of dynamite.

The two men were tossing firecrackers into Fox Lake in an effort to kill fish when a gust of wind blew their 14-foot aluminum boat over a tossed M-250 still floating on the surface. The resulting hole caused the boat to sink 300 feet from shore. Wyman's friend swam to safety, but Wyman drowned.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: joakant at Pixabay