Back to Top Big data can help the smallest babies - The Ottawa Hospital Website scanner for suspicious and malicious URLs
 

toh

Big data can help the smallest babies

 
baby with little hand

Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital have developed an algorithm that can accurately estimate a newborn’s gestational age to within one to two weeks.

Dr. Kumanan Wilson and his team have a novel approach to finding out how often babies are born preterm in low-resource countries. They’re using data collected from routine newborn blood tests and they’ve received nearly US $1 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support their research.

Dr. Kumanan Wilson (left) and Dr. Pranesh Chakraborty are using newborn blood tests.

Dr. Kumanan Wilson (left) and Dr. Pranesh Chakraborty are using newborn blood tests to identify preterm children in low-resource countries

Preterm birth is a leading cause of death among children under age five. Knowing how often babies are born preterm is essential for developing and evaluating health programs and policies. However, many low-resource countries do not have reliable data on this issue.

Dr. Wilson and Dr. Steven Hawken are pioneering a solution for measuring preterm birth rates using newborn blood samples spotted onto paper. In Canada and other countries, this practice is routinely used to screen for genetic diseases and metabolic disorders, but using it to assess preterm birth is new. Using these blood spots and big data analysis, the team has developed an algorithm that can accurately estimate gestational age to within one to two weeks.

“We’re using metabolic fingerprints – unique patterns in specific molecules found in the blood – to help estimate gestational age,” said Dr. Wilson, an internal medicine specialist and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. “If it works, this could be crucial to global efforts to reduce preterm birth and improve newborn health.”

baby with adult hand

Dr. Wilson’s team originally developed the algorithm and tested its accuracy using data from Ontario newborns. The team is currently testing the algorithm using newborn data from Bangladesh, Zambia, China and the Philippines.

This new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will allow the investigators to pilot the algorithm in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and provide preterm birth estimates to the countries that are taking part. Families that participate in the project will also have access to screening for treatable genetic disorders. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Newborn Screening Ontario and Stanford University are collaborators on the project.

Dr. Wilson leads The Ottawa Hospital’s mHealth Lab, which is supported by donations to The Ottawa Hospital.

 
Comment

Comment on this post

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*


You might also like…

Watch: NICU babies and staff receive special Challenge Coins from Ottawa Fire Services

This may be the feel-good video of the year! After helping carry our tiniest patients out of harm’s way on October 27, firefighters return to the General Campus NICU to present staff, families and babies with a special gift.

New Research Chair in Gay Men’s Health is setting out to break down barriers to care

As both a researcher and a gay man, Dr. Paul MacPherson knows all too well the stigma that gay men often face in the health-care system. Now, as the Clinical Research Chair in Gay Men’s Health at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa, he’s on a mission to make quality health care more accessible to this often overlooked patient population.

The Ottawa Hospital administers world-first in-utero treatment for rare genetic disorder

Before Ayla was born, she had already made history. Last year at The Ottawa Hospital, she received a world-first in-utero treatment for Pompe disease, a rare genetic disorder that had taken the lives of two of her siblings. Now 17 months old, Ayla is healthy and happy.

Made-in-Ottawa tool helps decide when critically ill patients can breathe on their own

Over the past two years of the pandemic, more Canadians than ever have required mechanical ventilation to help them breathe. The Ottawa Hospital is the first hospital in the world to evaluate an innovative medical device that uses artificial intelligence to predict when critically ill patients are ready to breathe on their own.

Dream vacation becomes nightmare after COVID-19 strikes

Sun and sand turned to fear and uncertainty when Jim and Joanne Booth, married for 57 years, tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2020. Read about their journey back home to receive life-saving care at The Ottawa Hospital.

Giving every COVID-19 patient the chance to participate in research

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Irene and Rebecca have been on the front lines explaining all the available clinical trials to these patients and their families, often during those first difficult days of hospitalization.

This website gives you common facts, advice and tips. Some of it may not apply to you. Please talk to your doctor, nurse or other health-care team member to see if this information will work for you. They can also answer your questions and concerns.