title: Assessment of general movements and heart rate variability in prediction of neurodevelopmental outcome in preterm infants.
abstract: Adverse neurologic outcome in preterm infants could be associated with abnormal heart rate (HR) characteristics as well as with abnormal general movements (GMs) in the 1st month of life.
  
  
  
  To demonstrate to what extent GMs assessment can predict neurological outcome in preterm infants in our clinical setting; and to assess the clinical usefulness of time-domain indices of heart rate variability (HRV) in improving predictive value of poor repertoire (PR) GMs in writhing period.
  
  
  
  Qualitative assessment of GMs at 1 and 3 months corrected age; 24h electrocardiography (ECG) recordings and analyzing HRV at 1 month corrected age.
  
  
  
  Seventy nine premature infants at risk of neurodevelopmental impairments were included prospectively.
  
  
  
  Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed at the age of 2 years corrected. Children were classified as having normal neurodevelopmental status, minor neurologic dysfunction (MND), or cerebral palsy (CP).
  
  
  
  We found that GMs in writhing period (1 month corrected age) predicted CP at 2 years with sensitivity of 100%, and specificity of 72.1%. Our results demonstrated the excellent predictive value of cramped synchronized (CS) GMs, but not of PR pattern. Analyzing separately a group of infants with PR GMs we found significantly lower values of HRV parameters in infants who later developed CP or MND vs. infants with PR GMs who had normal outcome.
  
  
  
  The quality of GMs was predictive for neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years. Prediction of PR GMs was significantly enhanced with analyzing HRV parameters.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Physical medicine and Rehabilitation- Paediatric department, Clinical Centre, Niš, Serbia; Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Lidija
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dimitrijević
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Serbia; Clinic of Pediatrics, Clinical Centre, Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Bojko
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bjelaković
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Physical medicine and Rehabilitation- Paediatric department, Clinical Centre, Niš, Serbia; Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Hristina
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Čolović
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Paediatric Rehabilitation, Institute for Children and Youth Health Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia; Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Serbia.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mikov
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Physical medicine and Rehabilitation- Paediatric department, Clinical Centre, Niš, Serbia; Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Živković
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Physical medicine and Rehabilitation- Paediatric department, Clinical Centre, Niš, Serbia; Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kocić
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Serbia; Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Centre, Niš, Serbia. Electronic address: slukic@medfak.ni.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Stevo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lukić
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000254:growth & development*; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D065886:Neurodevelopmental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
keywords: General movements; Heart rate variability; Neurodevelopmental outcome; Preterm infant