Three-dimensional camera anthropometry to assess risk of cephalopelvic disproportion-related obstructed labour in Ethiopia

Abstract

Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD)-related obstructed labour requires delivery via Caesarean section (C/S); however, in low-resource settings around the world, facilities with C/S capabilities are often far away. This paper reports three low-cost tools to assess the risk of CPD, well before labour, to provide adequate time for referral and planning for delivery. We performed tape measurement- and three-dimensional (3D) camera-based anthropometry, using two 3D cameras (Kinect and Structure) on primigravida, gestational age ≥ 36 weeks, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Novel risk scores were developed and tested to identify models with the highest predicted area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC), detection rate (true positive rate at a 5% false-positive rate, FPR) and triage rate (true negative rate at a 0% false-negative rate). For tape measure, Kinect and Structure, the detection rates were 53%, 61% and 64% (at 5% FPR), the triage rates were 30%, 56% and 63%, and the AUCs were 0.871, 0.908 and 0.918, respectively. Detection rates were 77%, 80% and 84% at the maximum J-statistic, which corresponded to FPRs of 10%, 15% and 11%, respectively, for tape measure, Kinect and Structure. Thus, tape measurement anthropometry was a very good predictor and Kinect and Structure anthropometry were excellent predictors of CPD risk.