Article,

Screening for cerebral palsy in preterm infants: delay criteria for motor milestone attainment.

, and .
J Perinatol, 14 (3): 190--193 (1994)

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.

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