Monitoring preterm infants' body movement to improve developmental care for their health

Body movement is one of the most useful information sources regarding preterm infants' condition and the prediction of motor impairment and/or movement disorders. Professionals observed neuro-developmental impairments like infantile cerebral palsy and assessed general movement for developing motor disorders. In addition, in the neonatal intensive care unit, body movement was used to evaluate developmental care such as the sleep-wake rhythm of infants. Currently, there is no study of a body movement monitoring system for preterm infants within closed incubators. The purpose of this study is to identify the body movement of preterm infants within closed incubators using non-restrictive and non-invasive video processing depending on differences in acoustic environments. Methods: Preterm infants (<;32 weeks corrected age) within closed incubators were evaluated during their sleeping time in neonatal units in Japan to assess the differences in the means of the scoring of the infant's body movement between two respiratory modes, high-frequency oscillation (HFO) vs nasal directional positive airway pressure (nasal-DPAP), to assess the level of stress. The accuracy rate of the nonrestrictive and noninvasive system that uses video images via software for monitoring body movements of preterm infants developed in the present study is 86.2% (SD = 5.3, rage 80.3 to 93.9). Results and discussions: In the nasal-DPAP group, infants seemed to have more body movement than in the HFO group. Conclusion: A non-restrictive and non-invasive method to monitor preterm infants' body movements by using video imaging seems to be accessible and feasible in standard clinical settings and allows neonatal care teams to assess and predict future consequences.