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Medicine vocabulary · History Taking and Examination

Oxygen saturation

Meaning in medicine, with examples

nounCommon term

In medicine, oxygen saturation means: The percentage of hemoglobin in the blood that is carrying oxygen, usually measured with a clip on the finger; in healthy adults it is usually 95% or higher.

In Turkish: oksijen satürasyonu, oksijen doygunluğu, satürasyon

How it is used

Called 'sats' or 'O2 sats' in hospital speech, and written SpO2 when measured with a pulse oximeter. Doctors give oxygen to keep saturations within a target range, which is lower for some patients with COPD.

Example sentences

  1. Her oxygen saturation is 89% on room air, so let's start her on oxygen.

  2. Oxygen saturations improved to 96% on two litres.

Common collocations

  • oxygen saturation on room air
  • sats
  • target saturation
  • drop in oxygen saturation
  • vital signsThe basic body measurements checked to see how ill a patient is: temperature, pulse, breathing rate and blood pressure, and often oxygen level.
  • COPDShort for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a long-term lung disease, usually caused by smoking, in which damaged airways make it hard to breathe out.
  • shortness of breathA feeling that you cannot get enough air or have to work hard to breathe; the medical word is dyspnea (UK: dyspnoea).
  • pneumoniaAn infection of the lungs in which the small air sacs fill with fluid or pus, causing cough, fever and difficulty breathing.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: History Taking and Examination

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.