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Overcome the barriers of vision care in Africa using smartphones

使用智能手机克服非洲视力保健障碍

基本信息

批准号：
10689279
负责人：
JOHN H KEMPEN
金额：
$ 24.51万
依托单位：
SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2022-09-01 至 2027-06-30
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10689279
关键词：
Address Affect Africa Africa South of the Sahara African African ancestry Asian Blindness Caring Cataract Caucasians Cellular Phone Child China Clinical Collaborations Communities Custom Darkness Data Set Detection Diagnosis Distant Educational Activities Ethiopia Ethnic Origin Eye Eyeglasses Face Foundations Glass Glaucoma Goals Grant Health Technology Healthcare High Prevalence Hospitals Income Legal patent Life Light Macular degeneration Mathematics Measurement Measures Mission Modeling Multicenter Studies Myopia Neural Network Simulation Ophthalmologist Optometrist Patients Personal Satisfaction Persons Phase Population Prevalence Protocols documentation Refractive Errors Rural Rural Community Sensitivity and Specificity Services Skin Technology Telephone Testing Training Underrepresented Populations United States National Institutes of Health Update Validation Vision Vision Screening Vision Tests Visual Acuity Visual impairment Work access disparities artificial intelligence algorithm care systems cost cost effective deep neural network design empowerment face skin feasibility testing field study health care availability improved innovation large scale production lens low and middle-income countries low income country mHealth member mobile application mobile computing neural network programs prototype research clinical testing response scale up screening social transfer learning volunteer young adult

项目摘要

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Worldwide, 671 million people have uncorrected refractive error out of which 161 million people have distance vision impairments due to uncorrected refractive error (URE). Distance vision impairment due to URE especially affects children and young adults, limiting their educational activities and social life. Although the prevalence of refractive error is lower, the prevalence of blindness due to URE in Africa is 6 times as that in high-income regions of the world. This indicates widespread disparities in access to eye care in Africa, which leads to long term negative effects. As a matter of fact, there are only 2.5 ophthalmologists per million population in Sub-Saharan Africa, against a global mean of about 32 ophthalmologists per million. Innovative community-based approaches are needed to tackle the increasing burden of providing the needed healthcare. In response to the grant opportunity to improve healthcare access to low and middle-income countries using mobile health, we propose to develop an AI-powered mobile application for measurement of refractive error and validate it by performing field tests in Ethiopia. With its relatively simple protocol, the app can allow lay people measure myopic refractive error using only a smartphone, without needing any phone attachments. Thus, it overcomes the main barriers of cost and accessibility. A recent study on this refraction app showed good consistency with clinical measurements of refraction in a multi-center study in the US and China. Given the bias and inaccuracies of AI algorithms in people of underrepresented African ethnicities, in the R21 phase, we will train a custom neural network on face datasets of African origin to make the current version of the app more suitable for dark-skinned Africans. We will validate the app measurements of refraction in Ethiopia by comparing it with standard clinical measurement, and also by determining the improvements in the visual acuity resulting from the app-based refractive correction. After the validation of the mobile technology for prescribing affordable eyeglasses in hospital settings, we will further evaluate community vision care programs in the R33 phase, including vision testing and dispensing of eyeglasses. Community volunteers will be trained to perform vision screening with the app and a field test will be performed in rural Ethiopia to determine the sensitivity and specificity of community-based myopia screening approach in real-world settings. With the mHealth solution, we are poised to make significant impact on the eye care in under-served Africa.

项目摘要/摘要