The app’s algorithm analyses the yellowness of the baby’s skin using photos of the infant with a specially designed colour-calibration sticker. PHOTO LIANHE ZAOBAO
SINGAPORE – Most parents are familiar with jaundice, a condition that affects 60 per cent of full-term babies and up to 80 per cent of those born prematurely, which gives the newborn’s skin and eyes a yellowish discoloration.
Now, a newly developed app aims to make it easier for parents to screen their babies for neonatal jaundice in the comfort of their homes.
Testing for jaundice currently involves the use of a light-emitting handheld gadget to measure the yellowness of the baby’s skin, or pricking the child’s heel to obtain a blood sample.
BiliSG, as the app is called, uses a machine learning model to accurately predict bilirubin levels in Asian newborns of various ethnicities, with both lighter and darker skin tones, through skin colour analysis.
The app’s algorithm analyses the yellowness of the baby’s skin using photos of the infant’s forehead, chest and abdomen with specially designed colour-calibration stickers.
Bilirubin is the yellow pigment resulting from the natural breakdown of red blood cells, an excess of which causes the yellow tint associated with jaundice.
Jaundice occurs when a baby has a high level of bilirubin in the blood, as the liver may not be developed enough to remove the pigment.
The condition is mild in most babies, with bilirubin levels usually hitting safe levels after the first two to three weeks.
However, early detection and regular monitoring is recommended as severe jaundice heightens the risk of bilirubin passing into the brain and causing permanent brain damage.
This can lead to long-term complications, such as intellectual and motor disabilities, as well as developmental delays.
The app was developed by a team from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), working together with SingHealth Polyclinics (SHP) and national health tech agency Synapxe.
A study of almost 550 babies, conducted between November 2023 and June 2024, found BiliSG had similar results to existing methods of neonatal jaundice testing, with the app able to accurately detect all cases of significant jaundice.
The study’s findings were published in December 2024 in peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Network Open.
Clinical Assistant Professor Alvin Ngeow, a senior consultant at the neonatal and developmental medicine department at SGH, noted that there are other apps which also screen for neonatal jaundice.
The new app was developed by a team from the Singapore General Hospital, working together with SingHealth Polyclinics and national health tech agency Synapxe.PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
“Most of them, however, take only a single point of reference, such as the forehead, to determine if the newborn has jaundice.
“In fact, a newborn with jaundice can have varying degrees of yellowness in different parts of the body,” added Prof Ngeow, who is also the study’s principal investigator.
He added that these other apps may have been developed in other countries, with babies with skin tones possibly different from those of Singapore’s population, which could impact their accuracy when used here.
SHP research director Tan Ngiap Chuan, the study’s senior author, described the app as a “game changer in infant care”.
“It will transform the way we protect the brain health of babies by ensuring their jaundice is monitored closely by their parents in a convenient setting and with the safeguard and supervision of their family doctors via telemedicine,” said Clinical Associate Professor Tan, who is also vice-chair of research at the SingHealth-Duke NUS Family Medicine Academic Clinical Programme.
The app has thus far been tested on just a single smartphone model.
However, over the next 18 months, more comprehensive testing will be conducted.
During that time, the app will be used to test about 2,000 babies, some outside the clinical setting, on a wider range of smartphone models and operating systems, as well as across different camera specifications.
The team will also work on enhancing BiliSG, including expanding the range of skin tones that the app can analyse.
“While it is currently in the testing phase, the development of the BiliSG app illustrates how we can leverage AI technologies to assist parents in monitoring their infant’s jaundice from the comfort of their homes,” said Synapxe chief data officer Andy Ta.
BiliSG is expected to be commercially available within the next two years.
