Assessment of Infant Movement With a Compact Wireless Accelerometer System

Abstract

There is emerging data that patterns of motor activity early in neonatal life can predict impairments in neuromotor development. However, current techniques to monitor infant movement mainly rely on observer scoring, a technique limited by skill, fatigue, and inter-rater reliability. Consequently, we tested the use of a lightweight, wireless, accelerometer system that measures movement and can be worn by premature babies without interfering with routine care. We hypothesized that this system would be useful in assessing motor activity, in identifying abnormal movement, and in reducing the amount of video that a clinician would need to review for abnormal movements. Ten preterm infants in the NICU were monitored for 1 h using both the accelerometer system and video. A physical therapist trained to recognize cramped-synchronized general movements scored all of the video data by labeling each abnormal movement observed. The parameters of three different computer models were then optimized based on correlating features computed from accelerometer data and the observer’s annotations. The annotations were compared to the model’s prediction on unseen data. The trained observer identified cramped-synchronized general movements in 6 of the 10 infants. The computer models attained between 70% and 90% accuracy when predicting the same observer label for each data point. Our study suggests that mini-accelerometers may prove useful as a clinical tool assessing patterns of movement in preterm infants.

Supporting the transition from hospital to home for premature infants using integrated mobile computing and sensor support

“…These data were smoothed and normalized and then separated into four real-valued power scores. The full details of the feature smoothing are presented in [30]. We modeled the ''True Motion'' as a generative variable for the four limb scores with independent Gaussian distributions.…”

A Review of Wearable Sensor Systems for Monitoring Body Movements of Neonates

“…Gravem et al present a clinical tool, using a mini-accelerometer, assessing patterns of movement in preterm infants [26]. Data quality and reliability are provided with wearable sensors, such as accelerometers, to assess the characteristics of movement disorders [21].…”

“…Moreover, the data were sent wirelessly instead of using wired transmission and that improves the comfortability significantly. Rihar et al [17], Gravem et al [26], Hayes et al [30], and Fan et al [24] use a similar form of the system to monitor infant movement. …”

Proof of Concept: Pressure Sensor for Tracking of Infant-Mother Kangaroo Care Durations

“…Despite dramatic improvements in medical technology over the last 20 years, in 2012, 7.9 per 1000 children born received some type of care in the NICU [1], [2]. Children receive NICU care for a variety of reasons, such as too slow of a heartbeat, not being able to breath on their own, and low birthweight.…”