Study reveals using a smartphone help detect anaemia in children
With just a collection of smartphone photographs, researchers from the University of Ghana and the University of London were able to accurately determine whether or not children had anaemia. Researchers and medical professionals from Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana, UCL Engineering, UCLH, and other institutions collaborated on the study, which was published in PLOS ONE, to examine a novel non-invasive diagnostic method utilising smartphone images of the face and eyes.
The advance could make anaemia screening more widely available for children in Ghana (and other low and middle-income countries) where there are high rates of the condition due to iron deficiency, as the screening tool is much cheaper than existing options and delivers results in one sitting.
The paper builds on previous successful research undertaken by the same team exploring use of an app - neoSCB - to detect jaundice in newborn babies.
Anaemia is a condition causing a reduced concentration of haemoglobin in the blood, which means oxygen is not transported efficiently around the body.
It affects two billion people globally and can have a significant impact on developmental outcomes in children, increasing their susceptibility to infectious diseases and impairing their cognitive development.
The most common cause of anaemia globally is iron deficiency, but other conditions such as blood loss, malaria and sickle-cell disease also contribute.
First author, PhD candidate Thomas Wemyss (UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering) said, "Smartphones are globally popular, but research using smartphone imaging to diagnose diseases shows a general trend of experiencing difficulty when transferring results to different groups of people.
"We are
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