Silent hypoxia and its role in COVID-19 detection

What is silent hypoxia and how can it occur?
Silent hypoxia is when a pulse oximetry check on a patient who does not appear to be short of breath, results in an oximetry finding lower than a physician would expect.

This occurs in a number of situations, but most recently it has made headlines because of the large number of incidences of this occurring in individuals diagnosed with COVID-19.

What is meant by the term ‘silent’ in silent hypoxia?
The term silent comes from the fact that the patient does not appear to be short of breath. They are not gasping, they do not have an increase in their respiratory rate, and they are not complaining of feeling air hunger or looking uncomfortable.

Most individuals, when their oxygen
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