Paperdoi:10.3390/s25020372
Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals
Sensors
(opens in a new tab)Raghda Al-Halawani et al., "Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals", doi:10.3390/s25020372, CC BY 4.0
TL;DR
The effect of skin pigmentation on photoplethysmography and, specifically, pulse oximetry has recently received a significant amount of attention amongst researchers, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. With most computational studies observing overestimation of arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) in individuals with darker skin, this study seeks to further investigate the root causes of these discrepancies. This study analysed intensity changes from Monte Carlo-simulated reflectance PPG signals across light, moderate, and dark skin types at oxygen saturations of 70% and 100% in MATLAB R2024a.
Abstract
The effect of skin pigmentation on photoplethysmography and, specifically, pulse oximetry has recently received a significant amount of attention amongst researchers, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. With most computational studies observing overestimation of arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) in individuals with darker skin, this study seeks to further investigate the root causes of these discrepancies. This study analysed intensity changes from Monte Carlo-simulated reflectance PPG signals across light, moderate, and dark skin types at oxygen saturations of 70% and 100% in MATLAB R2024a. With simulated intensity reflecting PPG amplitude, the results showed that systolic intensity decreased by 3–4% as pigmentation increased at 660 nm. It was also shown that the impact at 940 nm is minimal (<0.2%), indicating that the increased absorption of red light by melanin has a greater effect on the ratio of ratios calculations. These results suggest that in-built adjustments may be required for data collected from red-light sources in pulse oximeters that do not currently have the necessary post-processing algorithms to account for this difference between diverse skin populations.
Verbatim from the publisher's DOI record (opens in a new tab) · Publisher licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Cite this paper
Al-Halawani, R., Qassem, M., & Kyriacou, P. A. (2025). Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals. Sensors. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25020372
Al-Halawani, Raghda, Meha Qassem, and Panicos A. Kyriacou. 2025. "Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals." Sensors. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25020372.
Al-Halawani, R., Qassem, M. and Kyriacou, P. A. (2025) 'Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals', Sensors. doi: 10.3390/s25020372.
Al-Halawani, Raghda, et al. "Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals." Sensors, 2025. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25020372.
R. Al-Halawani, M. Qassem, and P. A. Kyriacou, "Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals," Sensors, 2025, doi: 10.3390/s25020372.
@article{alhalawani2025analysis,
title = {{Analysis of the Effect of Skin Pigmentation and Oxygen Saturation on Monte Carlo-Simulated Reflectance Photoplethysmography Signals}},
author = {Al-Halawani, Raghda and Qassem, Meha and Kyriacou, Panicos A.},
year = {2025},
journal = {Sensors},
doi = {10.3390/s25020372}
}Added to the ChatPPG research hub
