General Movement Assessment Predicts Neuro-Developmental Outcome in Very Low Birth Weight Infants at Two Years - A Five-Year Observational Study.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the value of general movements (GMs) in predicting the neurodevelopmental outcome using Bayley Scale of Infant Development III (BSID-III) at two years of age in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.


METHODS
This is a five-year observational study (January 2012-June 2017). Two hundred twenty-seven VLBW infants were assessed in the neurodevelopmental clinic between Jan 2012 and June 2017. Of these 137 infants had GMs assessments at 3 mo post term (first visit to the clinic).


RESULTS
Absence of fidgety movements (FMs) at 3 mo post term had high specificity and negative predictive value for moderate to severe neurodevelopmental outcome in motor, cognition and language domains (composite score less than 70 in the Bayley III scales of Infant development scores). At 3 mo post term, absent FMs had high sensitivity, specificity and negative predictive value (NPV) for cerebral palsy (CP).


CONCLUSIONS
GMs assessment at 3 mo post term could be considered as an important screening tool for early identification of VLBW infants who are at risk of neurodevelopmental impairment/cerebral palsy.
['Barnes|Fiona|F|', 'Graham|Lynda|L|', 'Loganathan|Prakash|P|', 'Nair|Vrinda|V|0000-0002-7149-4525']
D002547:Cerebral Palsy D002648:Child D002657:Child Development D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007231:Infant, Newborn D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight D009068:Movement D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
General movements Cerebral palsy Neurodevelopment