A smartphone app can diagnose anaemia by analysing the colour of a person’s fingernails in a photograph
Anaemia is a condition in which people do not not enough healthy red blood cells or low levels of haemoglobin. And it affects over two billion people worldwide. If untreated, it can cause extreme weakness, heart problems and complications during pregnancy.
Tests for anaemia require blood tests and lab equipment that can not only be hard to access but are also expensive. This is a grave issue in the low income countries where anaemia is most prevalent.
An app has now been developed by Wilbur Lam of Emory University, Atlanta, and colleagues that enables smartphone users to check for anaemia simply by clicking a picture of their fingernails.
Scientists believe the app will ultimately replace the need for invasive blood tests to monitor blood count
The software records levels of haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells, by measuring the paleness of the fingernail bed.
Scientists believe the app will ultimately replace the need for invasive blood tests to monitor blood count.
“All other ‘point-of-care’ anaemia detection tools require external equipment, and represent trade-offs between invasiveness, cost, and accuracy,” Dr Wilbur Lam, whose team of biomedical engineers created the app at Emory University in Atlanta, US, said.
“This is a standalone app whose accuracy is on par with currently available point-of-care tests without the need to draw blood.”
Previous studies have shown that the degree of paleness in some body tissues, including the fingernail beds, is a reliable indicator of how anaemic someone is. The skin beneath fingernails does not contain pigment, so haemoglobin – the oxygen-carrying pigment of the blood – is the main source of colour.
The app allows people to obtain a haemoglobin measurement in seconds by photographing their fingernails and tapping the screen to indicate where the nails are in the image. It uses the photo metadata to account for and factor out ambient lighting conditions.
“Because it requires only a smartphone, our app enables anyone to screen themselves for anaemia at any time – all they need to do is download the app,” says Lam.
