Early identification of cerebral palsy in high risk infants.

This study of high risk infants aimed to identify which signs at the corrected ages of 1, 4 and 8 months were important for distinguishing those infants who later developed hypertonic cerebral palsy (CP). From a total cohort of 450 infants (350 of birthweight less than 1500 g and 100 of birthweight greater than 1500 g), 26 infants were later diagnosed as having CP and formed the study group. A control group of 26 infants from the same initial cohort who did not develop CP was matched to the study group. Both groups were followed for a minimum of 2 years. At each assessment (1, 4, 8, 24 months corrected age), all children were assessed using a standard medical examination and a detailed neurosensorimotor developmental scale that evaluated neurological signs, motor attainments, primitive reflexes and postural reactions. Each test response was graded as normal, suspect or abnormal and the results for the two groups were compared. Assessment at 1 month failed to identify a number of the CP infants whereas at 4 months there was some overidentification. At 8 months, assessment was highly predictive of cerebral palsy. Individual signs of abnormality were found to be of limited value but the presence of three or more abnormal signs at 8 months was highly predictive of CP.