Accurate
age of a foetus -- gestational age -- helps in providing proper care of
pregnant women and also to determine precise delivery dates
In a first, researchers at the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) Madras have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model
that is specific to Indian population and can accurately determine the age of a
foetus in a pregnant woman, in her second and third trimesters.
Currently, physicians in India determine the
gestational age using a formula developed for Western population, increasing
chances of error.
The new model called ‘Garbhini-GA2' accurately
estimates the age of a foetus for the Indian population, reducing error by
almost three times, said the team of researchers, including from the
Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad on
Monday.
It is “the first late-trimester gestational age
estimation model to be developed and validated using Indian population data”,
they noted in the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Lancet Regional
Health Southeast Asia.
The new model can also improve the care delivered by
obstetricians and neonatologists, thus reducing maternal and infant mortality
rates in India.
The research is also part of ‘Interdisciplinary Group
for Advanced Research on Birth Outcomes -- DBT India Initiative' (GARBH-Ini)
programme.
“GARBH-Ini is a flagship programme of DBT, and the
development of these population-specific models for estimating gestational age
is a commendable outcome. These models are being validated across the country,”
said Dr. Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT),
Government of India, in a statement on Monday.
“IIT Madras has been contributing towards solving
healthcare problems at the grassroots and local level with the aim of enhancing
public health in India. To this end, we are utilising advanced data science and
AI/ML techniques to build tools to predict unfavourable birth outcomes. The
first step towards this is to develop accurate GA models that perform
significantly better than currently used models designed using Western
populations,” added Dr Himanshu Sinha, a Coordinator at the Center for
Integrative Biology and Systems Medicine, IIT Madras, and who led the data
science work for this research.
Garbhini-GA2 used three routinely measured foetal
ultrasound parameters, and was developed using GARBH-Ini cohort data documented
at Gurugram Civil Hospital, Haryana, and was validated in an independent cohort
in South India.
Once validated in prospective pan-India cohorts, this
Garbhini-GA2 can be deployed in clinics across India, improving the care
delivered by obstetricians and neonatologists, thus reducing maternal and
infant mortality rates in India, the researchers said.
“Improving the gestational age accuracy is a critical
component of the broader goals of the GARBH-Ini study, which aims to reduce the
adverse pregnancy outcomes,”said Dr Shinjini Bhatnagar, Principal Investigator
of the GARBH-Ini programme and a Distinguished Professor, at THSTI.
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