Recognizing the meaning of a newborn's gestures is a somewhat complicated task, even to distinguish a small nuisance from a terrible pain.
As we already announced in Babies and more, premature babies can feel pain and precisely this week a study was published in which it was indicated that newborns were subjected to different tests and medical actions that caused them pain.
Currently, in hospitals objective pain scales are used that calibrate several factors to determine the baby's suffering, such as blood pressure, the posture he adopts or facial expression, but the data provided are subjective. Technology is also advancing and this time it is to improve the understanding of the gestures of babies and determine the pain they are caused or suffer, so it will give more knowledge to professionals and their suffering could be resolved.
Sheryl Brahnam of Missouri State University has created a facial recognition software that is able to determine the degree of pain of babies. The system is based on an algorithm resulting from a database with 204 images of 26 babies. Among them are images of babies at the time they have their heels pricked for blood collection, an action that is already recognized as painful, and others in which babies had been subjected to different soft stimuli, such as a breath in the face.
The Pain Expression Classification (COPE) system has resulted in 90% of successes, a surprising fact given the similarity of the expressions, although Brahnam says there is still much to study to move forward and finally use This system in hospitals.
It is a great advance that we hope will be effective shortly, because in addition to eliminating pain in babies, the possible deterioration of neurological development that suggests that it causes babies to suffer can be avoided.
