Effects of Different Nail Polish Colors on Arterial Blood Oxygen Saturation Values (SpO2) in Pakistani Population

Abstract

Pulse oximetry measures arterial oxygen saturation level (SpO2) in the blood. Low SpO2 value are associated with conditions such as hypothermia, hypoxemia, vascular dysfunction and other respiratory disorders. Although, it has been reported earlier that nail polish effects SpO2 values and gives inaccurate readings, most of these experiments were conducted in Europe and the U.S. Since accuracy of pulse oximeter is affected by the skin color, such results need to be verified in other regions of the world due to the variety in skin pigments amongst different population. The objective of this study was to determine the extent of effect which different colors of nail polish causes on SpO2 values in Pakistani population. Data was acquired from sixty four (64) healthy female volunteers (age=22+4 years). Six different nail polish colors black, blue, red, purple, yellow and green were used. The Masimo (SET) pulse oximeter was used to obtain SpO2 readings. Significant difference was found between nail polished fingers as compared to finger nails without nail polish. The variation in mean values is observed more on dark colors (<9%). Medium colors gave slight differences (<6%). Light colors gave no significant difference (<3%). Results from ANOVA test showed significant difference between the fingers SpO2 values of non-polished versus all polished nail fingers.