Years of research have showed that pulse oximeters yield less accurate readings for people with darker skin tones, and now the US Food and Drug Administration is proposing guidance to help make these devices more reliable and less biased.

Federal health officials are proposing changes to make sure medical devices that measure oxygen levels are working for patients of color

Pulse oximeters help doctors evaluate a person's pulse rate and the oxygen saturation of your blood. The FDA is proposing changes to make them more accurate.

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft guidance would require manufacturers of pulse oximeters to gather far more clinical data to show the devices accurately work across a range of skin tones. The long-awaited guidance released Monday comes in response to mounting evidence that the devices,

If you use a pulse oximeter for health monitoring, know that the FDA is working to improve their accuracy for all skin tones, reducing potential risks for patients of color.