The Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination for following-up the gross motor development of high-risk infants / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the ability of the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE) to predict the gross motor development of high-risk infants.Methods:A total of 207 high-risk infants were assessed with the HINE and the Gesell Developmental Schedule (GDS) at the ages of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. They were then divided into a normal development group and a delayed group according to their gross motor development at 12 months old. The validity of the HINE′s discrimination was quantified retrospectively as the difference in the total HINE score at each follow-up month between the two groups. Spearman coefficients relating the total HINE score with the gross motor development quotient from the GDS were calculated at each follow-up month. The HINE′s total score threshold for predicting gross motor retardation at 12 months was determined from a receiver operating characteristics curve, and the predictive validity, sensitivity and specificity were evaluated by calculating the area under the curve.Results:At each time point the average total HINE score of the delayed group was significantly lower than the normal group′s average. The correlation between the HINE total scores and the GDS gross motor development quotients was strongest at 6 months old, and weakest at 3 months. The threshold total HINE score for predicting gross motor retardation at 12 months old was 60 at 3 months, 67 at 6 months, and then 71. The instrument′s sensitivity and specificity were very good at all four time points.Conclusion:The HINE can usefully predict gross motor retardation in the first year of life for high-risk infants. The critical value of the total score can be used as an auxiliary diagnostic reference for neuromotor development in such infants.