Making Sense of Skin Color in Clinical Care

Janine S. Everett, Mia Budescu and Marilyn S. Sommers

Clinical Nursing Research, 2012, vol. 21, issue 4, 495-516

Abstract: The background of this article is that assessment and quantification of skin color is important to health care; color is one indicator of overall health and is linked to oxygenation, tissue perfusion, nutritional status, and injury. The purpose is to describe how skin color varies across racial/ethnic groups so that the information can be applied to clinical practice. The method used is cross-sectional, descriptive design ( n = 257). We recorded self-defined race/ethnicity and used a spectrophotometer to measure skin color at two anatomic sites. Skin color variables included L* (light/dark), a* (red/green), and b* (yellow/blue). As regards results, we found significant differences in L*, a*, and b* values by site and race/ethnicity in White, Asian, and Biracial participants. L*: F (3, 233) = 139.04, p

Keywords: skin color; injury; protection; CIELAB; spectrophotometry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:clnure:v:21:y:2012:i:4:p:495-516

DOI: 10.1177/1054773812446510

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