AI tool accurately estimates gestational age

Novice clinicians with no previous training in ultrasonography estimated gestational age between 14 and 27 weeks of pregnancy with a low-cost, point-of-care artificial intelligence tool as accurately as sonographers did using ultrasound machines. The authors of the study, published in JAMA Network Open, believe the tool could be used in obstetrical care in low-resource settings to estimate gestational age, improving maternal and child outcomes. The prospective study enrolled 400 pregnant individuals in Lusaka, Zambia and Chapel Hill, N.C., with due dates confirmed by first-trimester ultrasonography. The AI-enabled tool had a mean absolute error of 3.2 days compared with 3.0 days with the high-specification ultrasound machine. (JAMA Network Open article, 8/1/24)