Principle Investigator: Dr. Muhammad Abdul Kadir , Professor & Chairman , Department of Biomedical Physics & Technology
Co-Investigator:
Duration: 1 year
Amount: BDT 6,40,000
Funding Authority: Centennial Research Grant, University of Dhaka
Pneumonia is the single largest cause of death in children worldwide due to infectious diseases. According to WHO guidelines, fast breathing and chest indrawing are the key indicators of pneumonia in children requiring antibiotic treatments. Respiratory rate, the number of breaths per minute, is usually measured by eye estimation or by attaching sensors to the body which are intrusive and not suitable for children. Chest indrawing, the inward movement of the lower chest wall during inhalation, is identified by visual observation that may lead to false detection if the observer is not skilled enough. There is no other method for the monitoring of chest indrawing. A computer aided method for simultaneous monitoring of respiratory rate and chest indrawing can be of great importance for proper diagnosis of pneumonia severity in children. This paper describes a video-based novel approach for simultaneous monitoring of respiratory rate and chest indrawing without upsetting babies. Respiratory signals corresponding to periodic movements of chest-abdominal walls during breathing are extracted by analyzing RGB (red, green, blue) components in video frames captured by a smartphone camera. Chest indrawing is detected by analysing relative phases of regional chest-abdominal wall mobility. The performance of the developed algorithm is evaluated on both healthy and pneumonia children. Results show that the developed algorithm can measure respiratory rate with an overall mean absolute error of 1.8 bpm in the range 18-105 bpm. Phase difference between regional chest wall movements in the chest indrawing (pneumonia) cases was found to be 143±23.9 degrees, which is significantly higher than that in the healthy cases 52.3 ±32.6 degrees (p<0.001). Being non-intrusive and non-subjective, this method can be useful in the monitoring for respiratory rate and chest indrawing for the diagnosis of pneumonia and its severity in children.