title: Screening for cerebral palsy in preterm infants: delay criteria for motor milestone attainment.
abstract: We evaluated the efficacy of various delay criteria (12.5%, 25%, 37.5%, 5%, 50% delay) for motor milestone attainment to screen a sample of 173 high-risk preterm infants with gestational age < 32 weeks who had been sequentially followed for 18 to 24 months. Sensitivities were best with 12.5% and 25% delays, but specificities and positive predictive values were relatively lower. Since societal resources for evaluation and treatment of cerebral palsy are limited, the excellent specificities (81% to 95%) and positive predictive values (48% to 85%) with 50% delay are more important than the somewhat lower sensitivities, especially since milestones involve a multistep screening process. Screening preterm infants by obtaining a history of motor milestone attainment with each child care visit, correcting for degree of prematurity, and using a 50% delay criteria is a practical, inexpensive method of identifying infants at highest risk of cerebral palsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Alexander
mesh_terms: D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity