Association between the General Movement Optimality Score and clinical features in newborns during hospitalization: A cross-sectional study.

Aims: To describe the General Movements (GMs) of hospitalized newborns to verify if their global and detailed GMA are related and if their GMs are associated with clinical features.

Methods: Cross-sectional study. Thirty-eight preterm and full-term newborns, who were hospitalized in the neonatal intermediate care unit of a reference hospital, were included. Prechtl's General Movement Assessment (GMA), including the General Movement Optimality Score (GMOS) list, was used as an assessment tool. Clinical variables, such as preterm birth, birthweight, length of hospitalization, Apgar scores, pregnancy problems, admission at neonatal intensive care unit, use of invasive mechanical ventilation, and brain imaging findings were also collected. Newborns were videoed at a single time for 3 min before discharge.

Results: Most newborns presented GMs with normal or poor repertoire quality. GMOS ranged from 17 to 42 points. Scores were lower in abnormal GMs. Abnormal GMs were associated with preterm birth, length of hospital stay >30 days and birthweight <2500 g. Accordingly, lower GMOSs were also associated with preterm birth, a birthweight <2500 g and a hospital stay >30 days but also with the invasive mechanical ventilation application.

Conclusion: Preterm and full-term newborns presented normal or abnormal GMs during hospitalization. Preterm birth, low birthweight, longer hospital stay and a time period of invasive ventilation were associated with worse GM behaviors.