title: Jerky spontaneous movements at term age in preterm infants who later developed cerebral palsy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Assessment of spontaneous movements in infants has been a powerful predictor of cerebral palsy (CP). Recent advancements on computer-based video analysis can provide detailed information about the properties of spontaneous movements.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between spontaneous movements of the 4 limbs at term age and the development of CP at 3 years of age by using a computer-based video analysis system.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed video recordings of spontaneous movements at 36-44 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) for 145 preterm infants who were born preterm (22-36 weeks PMA with birthweights of 460-1498g). Sixteen of the infants developed CP by 3 years of age, while 129 developed normally. We compared 6 movement indices calculated from 2-dimensional trajectories of all limbs between the 2 groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the indices of jerkiness were higher in the CP group than in the normal group (p<0.1 for arms and p<0.01 for legs). No decline was observed in the average velocity and number of movement units in the CP group compared with to the normal group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Jerkiness of spontaneous movements at term age provides additional information for predicting CP in infants born preterm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Nao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanemaru
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hama
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Nagano Children's Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kihara
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, School of Sciences, Kyorin University, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Nagano Children's Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistical Modeling, The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Japan.
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: taga@p.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Gentaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Taga
authors.affiliation: Center for Baby Science, Doshisha University, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Konishi
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000209:etiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D020820:Dyskinesias; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D014741:Video Recording
keywords: Cerebral palsy; Computer-based video analysis; Preterm infants; Spontaneous movements