MedDRA preferred term

Oxygen saturation decreased: adverse event reports recording this term

54,959 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 0.3% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

54,959
reports recording the term: 0.3% of all reports; 4,102
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 4,195 in the 12 months before; 90.4%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 10.9%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

54,959 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Oxygen saturation decreased": 0.3% of all reports received between January 2004 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

4,102 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 4,195 of the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 90.4% are marked serious, 10.9% include death among the outcomes and 54.5% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Rituximab, Opsumit and Actemra. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Rituximab	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	2,360	1.5%
Opsumit	Endothelin receptor antagonist	1,503	3.7%
Actemra	Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist	1,495	1.9%
Tyvaso	Prostacycline vasodilator	1,446	5.1%
Ambrisentan	Endothelin receptor antagonist	1,415	2.6%
Remodulin	Prostacycline vasodilator	1,291	2.7%
Humira	—	963	0.2%
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	947	0.5%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	934	0.5%
Rituxan	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	852	2.1%
Tyvaso DPI	Prostacycline vasodilator	851	9.2%
Ofev	Kinase inhibitor	797	3.3%
Paclitaxel	Microtubule inhibitor	746	1.1%
Uptravi	Prostacyclin receptor agonist	736	4.3%
Oxaliplatin	Platinum-based drug	667	1%
Remicade	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	656	0.4%
Adempas	Soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator	633	3.4%
Carboplatin	Platinum-based drug	630	0.6%
Tracleer	Endothelin receptor antagonist	626	1.9%
Orenitram	Prostacycline vasodilator	607	3.6%
Letairis	Endothelin receptor antagonist	588	1.2%
Esbriet	Pyridone	582	1.7%
Fentanyl	Opioid agonist	550	1%
Tiotropium bromide	Anticholinergic	543	0.7%
Xolair	Anti-IgE	477	0.7%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0.3% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Prostacycline vasodilator	5,140	4.3%	4.8%
Endothelin receptor antagonist	4,437	2.3%	2.3%
Corticosteroid	3,708	0.5%	0.1%
CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	3,659	1.2%	0.5%
Opioid agonist	2,174	0.2%	0.1%
Kinase inhibitor	1,931	0.2%	0.1%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	1,760	0.2%	0.1%
Benzodiazepine	1,636	0.7%	0.5%
Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist	1,592	1.2%	0.3%
Platinum-based drug	1,472	0.6%	0.6%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 22.4%1,336

2 to 112.8%1,563

12 to 171.4%784

18 to 4410.3%5,648

45 to 6424.3%13,336

65 to 7418.3%10,043

75 and over14.8%8,159

Age not given25.6%14,090

Patient sex

Female53.3%29,285

Male37.8%20,780

Not given8.9%4,894

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 49% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Oxygen saturation decreased"

What does "Oxygen saturation decreased" mean in an adverse event report?

It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record oxygen saturation decreased?

54,959 reports through June 2026 (0.3% of all reports), 4,102 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Rituximab (2,360), Opsumit (1,503), Actemra (1,495), Tyvaso (1,446) and Ambrisentan (1,415). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.