A method of monitoring changes in oxygen saturation of a subject by analysing a three colour channel video image of the exposed skin of the subject. Within each colour channel a normalised signal obtained by dividing the intensity signal by its mean value, and the normalised signals are averaged across plural regions of interest within the exposed skin area image of the subject. Regions of interest are selected on the basis of the signal-to-noise ratios for the heart rate and breathing rate components. A single representative waveform for each colour channel is obtained by signal averaging and the ratio of the amplitudes of the representative waveforms from two different colour channels, e.g. blue and red, is taken. The changes in the ratio of amplitudes is output as a measure of changes in blood oxygen saturation.
