A Comparison of Reflective Photoplethysmography for Detection of Heart Rate, Blood Oxygen Saturation, and Respiration Rate at Various Anatomical Locations

Abstract

Monitoring of vital signs is critical for patient triage and management. Principal assessments of patient conditions include respiratory rate heart/pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation. However, these assessments are usually carried out with multiple sensors placed in different body locations. The aim of this paper is to identify a single location on the human anatomy whereby a single 1 cm × 1 cm non-invasive sensor could simultaneously measure heart rate (HR), blood oxygen saturation (SpO ₂), and respiration rate (RR), at rest and while walking. To evaluate the best anatomical location, we analytically compared eight anatomical locations for photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors simultaneously acquired by a single microprocessor at rest and while walking, with a comparison to a commercial pulse oximeter and respiration rate ground truth. Our results show that the forehead produced the most accurate results for HR and SpO ₂ both at rest and walking, however, it had poor RR results. The finger recorded similar results for HR and SpO ₂, however, it had more accurate RR results. Overall, we found the finger to be the best location for measurement of all three parameters at rest; however, no site was identified as capable of measuring all parameters while walking.