An application based on artificial intelligence (Apollo Infant Sight, AIS) has been developed and successfully tested will help doctors and parents diagnose vision disorders in young children even under 2 years of age, accurately distinguishing 16 different ophthalmic disorders only through the study of children’s vision.

Reported in Nature Medicine, the study is due to Chinese researchers at Sun Yat-sen University. Experts recorded videos of 3,652 Chinese children aged 48 months to develop the app.

Researchers have validated this system twice in a clinical setting and also at home. AIS captured images of children watching cartoon-like videos to identify vision problems.

He accurately distinguished 16 ophthalmic disorders in children by analyzing facial features, gaze behavior and eye movements during visual stimuli. Young children, especially newborns, are unable to undergo standard vision tests, making early detection of any damage difficult.

There is an urgent need for easy-to-use tools for detecting vision problems in young children. Researchers collected over 25,000,000 video frames of 3,652 children using AIS. Validation of the system took place in three phases, in five clinics and at home.

In the first two phases, children enrolled in the study underwent ophthalmic examinations by clinical staff and trained volunteers collected videos. In the third phase of the study, the experts recruited the parents of a group of children online to validate the use of the application at home.

The parents, although not experts, recorded the videos of the children with their smartphones following the instructions of the AIS app. All children underwent ophthalmological examinations in a clinic. The AIS has achieved high values ​​of sensitivity and specificity both when used by ophthalmologists and when used by parents.

The application can help in timely referral of visually impaired children to pediatric ophthalmologists, who can start treatment in time.