Associations Between General Movements Assessments and Cognitive Development

Associations Between General Movements Assessments and Cognitive Development in a Cohort of High Risk of Infants: One Year Follow Up

High risk infant is defined as infant with a negative history of environmental and biological factors, which can lead to neuromotor development problems. It is a heterogeneous group of premature infants born under thirty-seven weeks of age, with infants with low birth weight, term or developmental retardation for various reasons. Therefore, preterm infants with low birth weight can survive with a neurological sequelae such as cerebral palsy (CP), epilepsy, hearing and vision loss, mental retardation, speech and speech problems, and learning difficulties. The clinical diagnosis of CP and learning diffuculties which can be observed in high-risk infants, is based on the combination of some neurological and clinical signs.

High-risk of infant follow-up programs provide guidance for the treatment of neurodevelopmental delays and deterioration in terms of early development. Three methods with the best predictable validity that can determine CP before the adjusted age of 5-month is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Prechtl's Assessment of General Movements (GMs), Hammersmith Infant Neurological Evaluation. In recent years, the diagnosis of high-risk of CP can be detected at 3 months with predictive validity and reliability by evaluating the quality of GMs. GMs are now considered the gold standard for early detection of CP because of its high sensitivity and specificity than MRI, cranial US and neurological evaluations. It was also found that cognitive or language skills may be inadequate in school age in patients with inadequate movement character and in the same postural patterns according to age, although GMs are normal. So new clinical care guidelines and new intervention research for infants with CP and learning diffuculties under the age of 1, needs to be been shown. There a few studies about early detection of learning diffuculties like autism spectrum disorders between GMs and cognitive development tests. So this study aimed to reveal the association between GMs and cogtinive development with a cohort of high risk of infants with one year floow up.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Having periventricular hemorrhage, ICH stages 2, 3, 4, cystic PVL, stage 3 HIE, kernicterus, perinatal asphyxia, chronic lung disease, RDS, BPD, long-term oxygen (7 days), >24 hours mechanical ventilator (MV) support, 5th minute Apgar Score <3, neonatal sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), gestation age <32 weeks, and prematurity due to preterm/multiple births<1500 gr.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Infants with congenital malformation (Spina Bifida, Congenital Muscular Torticollis, Arthrogriposis Multiplex Congenita etc.)
• Infants diagnosed with metabolic and genetic diseases (Down Syndrome,Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy etc.)
• Infants still intubated and mechanical ventilator dependent at postterm 3 months