Table 1. Costs of purchasing, maintaining and repairing pulse oximeters.

Parameter	Point estimate (range)a		Data source(s) and assumptionsa
	Commercial tabletop device	Hand-held device
Cost of purchase, shipping and internal transport, US$	1065 (600–3000)	250 (250–280)	Lifebox product information4
Life-span, years	6 (4–8)	8 (6–10)	Expert opinion
Annuitized maintenance costs, including those for replacement probes and batteries, US$b	34 (17–85)	18 (15–31)	Probes for tabletop device replaced every 2 (1–3) years at a cost of US$ 100.40,c Probes for hand-held device replaced every 2 (1–3) years at a cost of US$ 254 and batteries for hand-held device replaced every year at a cost of US$ 104
Annuitized repair costs, US$	45 (30–60)	6 (2–13)	15% (10–20%) chance of breakage of a tabletop device each year, at a total cost per year of US$ 355 including shipping.40,c 5% (1–10%) chance of breakage of hand-held device each year, at a total cost per year of US$ 65 during the first 2 years – when the device is under warranty – and US$ 138 thereafter4
Annual cost of treating additional hypoxic episodes identified by pulse oximetry, US$	35 (17–52)	35 (17–52)	Incidence of hypoxia is 7.9% with pulse oximetry and 0.4% without oximetry.10 If hypoxia is detected, oxygen flow increased by 8 litres/min for 10 minutes,c at a cost of US$ 0.40 per additional hypoxic episode detected9
Total equivalent annual cost, US$	310	95	Authors’ calculations. Uncertainty explored in sensitivity analysis

US$: United States dollars.

^a All costs are shown adjusted to 2013 values, assuming 3% inflation per year.

^b Excludes share of general overhead costs attributable to use of pulse oximetry – i.e. costs of cleaning and electricity.

^c Value partly or entirely based on expert opinion.