Smartphone-Based Anemia Screening via Conjunctival Imaging with 3D-Printed Spacer: A Cost-Effective Geospatial Health Solution

• Published in: Current medical imaging reviews
• Main Authors: Arunnagiri, A M, Sasikala, M, Ramadass, N, Ramya, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates 29.08.2025
• Subjects: 3D printed spacer; Android mobile application; Anemia; Eye conjunctiva images; YOLOv8; Multi-layer perceptron; SAM
• ISSN: 1573-4056; 1875-6603; 1573-4056
• DOI: 10.2174/0115734056389602250826081355

Anemia is a common blood disorder caused by a low red blood cell count, reducing blood hemoglobin. It affects children, adolescents, and adults of all genders. Anemia diagnosis typically involves invasive procedures like peripheral blood smears and complete blood count (CBC) analysis. This study aims to develop a cost-effective, non-invasive tool for anemia detection using eye conjunctiva images. Eye conjunctiva images were captured from 54 subjects using three imaging modalities such as a DSLR camera, a smartphone camera, and a smartphone camera fitted with a 3D-printed spacer macro lens. Image processing techniques, including You Only Look Once (YOLOv8) and the Segment Anything Model (SAM), and K-means clustering were used to analyze the image. By using an MLP classifier, the images were classified as anemic, moderately anemic, and normal. The trained model was embedded into an Android application with geotagging capabilities to map the prevalence of anemia in different regions. Features extracted using SAM segmentation showed higher statistical significance (p < 0.05) compared to K-Means. Comparing high resolution(DSLR modality) and the proposed 3D-printed spacer macrolens shows statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). The classification accuracy was 98.3% for images from a 3D spacer-equipped smartphone camera, on par with the 98.8% accuracy obtained from DSLR camerabased images. The mobile application, developed using images captured with a 3D spacer-equipped modality, provides portable, cost-effective, and user-friendly non-invasive anemia screening. By identifying anemic clusters, it assists healthcare workers in targeted interventions and supports global health initiatives like Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.