Californian wellness company BodiMetrics has announced initiatives to address health inequality in the wearable medical technology industry and increase awareness of the implicit racial bias in commercial pulse oximeters.

Research published by several organisations, including the New England Journal of Medicine, has raised concerns about dangerous inaccuracies in pulse oximeters, devices that measure blood oxygen, when used by patients with darker skin tones. Other studies have found that smartwatches and fitness bands are less effective at tracking the heart rate of people of colour.

“BodiMetrics medical devices’ ability to deliver accurate data is the primary reason I decided to work with them,” said Meir Kryger, professor of pulmonology and sleep medicine at Yale University. “Most other popular fitness devices do not provide accurate medical information for all populations. BodiMetric’s Prevention Circul+ ring does.”

BodiMetrics, maker of the Prevention Circul+ wellness monitoring ring, previously published studies demonstrating that the Circul wellness rings provide accurate blood oxygen and heart rate readings for people of all skin tones. Now the company is taking further steps to promote health equity, including research partnerships in the UK and Portugal to study skin sensitivity in sensors medical professionals can use to monitor health.

“Health inequality is a major issue,” said Neil Friedman, BodiMetrics COO. “Our mission has always been to provide the very best data with our devices. We built the Prevention Circul+ to work for everyone. And we will continue to form the right relationships within consumer circles and the greater medical community to bring our solutions where they are needed.”

In the USA, BodiMetrics recently formed a collaboration with Kelvin Boston, the financial author and broadcaster. The collaboration aims to raise awareness about the Prevention Circul+ for multi-cultural consumers and healthcare providers through an online marketing campaign, online healthcare marketplace and sponsorship of a TV series being produced for public TV stations and streaming platforms.

“The Prevention Circul+ wellness ring is an empowering, affordable and easy to use wellness ring,” said Boston. “I’m excited about informing communities of colour about BodiMetric’s Circul+ ring because it can help reduce health disparities by giving everyone the power to accurately monitor vital health signs, sleep and exercise regardless of their skin tone. Now everyone can use the power of digital health monitoring to help secure a longer and healthier life.”

All BodiMetrics products are tested by independent third-party labs to clinical standards and, where indicated, approved by the FDA.