Individual longitudinal neurodevelopmental trajectories of children treated with hypothermia for perinatal asphyxia from 3 months to 5 years of age.
A 3-minute movement video at 3 months tells which asphyxia survivors will have severe disability by age 5.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Doctors cooled newborns who had oxygen loss at birth. This is called hypothermia treatment.
The team watched these babies grow. They gave movement tests at 3 months. They checked development again at 5 years.
They wanted to see if early movement scores could tell who would have big delays later.
What they found
Babies who moved normally at 3 months mostly grew into typical 5-year-olds.
Every child who showed odd, jerky movements as an infant had severe disability by age 5.
A short 3-minute video of the baby’s movement was a strong crystal ball.
How this fits with other research
Kuang et al. (2025) also tracked babies after a rough start. They used BSID-III scores instead of movement videos. Both studies show early baby tests can map later risk.
Yaari et al. (2018) saw a darker picture in pre-term infants. Their scores kept falling behind. Lieke’s asphyxia group split into two clear paths: normal or severe. The difference is the tool, not the idea.
Velikos et al. (2015) used BSID-III at 12 months. They found wide delays in pre-term babies. Lieke’s team caught the same split sooner, at 3 months, by watching movement quality.
Why it matters
You can tape a 3-minute movement clip during an infant visit. If the baby shows abnormal General Movements, start therapy fast. Don’t wait for the 12-month BSID-III. Early action may re-wire motor paths before scars settle.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Hypothermia for perinatal asphyxia is a common treatment to decrease morbidity. This study aims to describe a) individual longitudinal neurodevelopmental trajectories over 5 years in children with perinatal asphyxia treated with hypothermia and b) the correlation between movement quality at 3 months and motor developmental outcomes at 5 years of age. METHODS: In this longitudinal cohort study, 18 children (12 male) were assessed at 3 (t1), 6 (t2), 12 (t3), and 24 (t4) months, and at the age of 5 (t5) years, with standardized norm-referenced tests. RESULTS: Six children showed abnormal movement quality assessed with General Movements (t1) and all showed severe neurodevelopmental disabilities at t5. The 12 children without severe disabilities, showed a significant normalization of z-scores over the five assessment points (linear mixed model analysis). At t5, four of these children scored mildly delayed motor or cognitive development. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Children without anomalies on the MRI before hospital discharge and normal movement quality at 3 months of age showed normal neurodevelopment at the age of 5, however, individual motor trajectories showed variability over time. Presents of abnormal GMs tend to detect CP and developmental problems, advocating a developmental surveillance to determine need for early intervention.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103659