Jerky spontaneous movements at term age in preterm infants who later developed cerebral palsy

•We have identified characteristics of spontaneous movements at term age in preterm infants who later developed CP.•Infants who developed CP by 3 years of age showed more often jerky movements than those who developed normally.•Computer-based video analysis system can be useful in quantifying the spontaneous movements at term age for predicting CP.

BackgroundAssessment 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.AimsThe 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.Study design and subjectsWe 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 460–1498 g). 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.ResultsWe 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.ConclusionsJerkiness of spontaneous movements at term age provides additional information for predicting CP in infants born preterm.