Remote Videos Can Reliably Flag Cerebral Palsy Risk

TOPLINEAmong premature infants born before 32 weeks gestation, parent-recorded home videos enabled reliable General Movements Assessment (GMA) at 3-4 months of corrected age; atypical movements identified infants at high risk for cerebral palsy, whereas the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) showed only a weak association with movement assessment findings.METHODOLOGYResearchers conducted an observational follow-up study to assess the clinical utility of parent-recorded home video recordings for GMA in infants born before 32 weeks of gestation and to examine the relationship between ASQ scores at 3-4 months of age and GMA classifications.They included 232 infants (median gestational age, 29 weeks + 6 days; median birth weight, 1263 g) who were born before 32 weeks of gestation across eight neonatal units in Denmark from August 2021 to April 2023; of these, 169 were singletons and 63 were from multiple births.Parents received standardised in-motion video instructions based on General Movements Trust guidelines and submitted videos of their infants recorded during two separate time windows (12 + 1 to 13 + 6 weeks + days and 14 + 1 to 17 + 6 weeks + days of corrected age) through a smartphone application designed to assess infant motor behaviour.The GMA scorable videos were independently assessed for fidgety movements by two certified GMA observers. Typical GMA was defined as the presence of continuous, intermittent, or sporadic fidgety movements, and atypical GMA was defined as absent or abnormal fidgety movements characterised by exaggerated amplitude and speed.Parents also completed the ASQ — a developmental screening tool covering communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal-social skills — electronically; a total score of below 183 indicated developmental concerns; interobserver agreement for GMA classifications and associations between GMA and ASQ results were also evaluated.TAKEAWAYParents submitted at least one home video for 184 infants, and all submitted videos were suitable for GMA evaluation; all infants could be classified according to their fidgety movements, with an interobserver agreement of 97% and high interrater reliability.Among the infants with submitted videos, 96% had typical fidgety movements, whereas 4% had atypical GMA findings, indicating a high risk for cerebral palsy.Parents completed the ASQ for 199 infants: 160 had normal scores and 39 had low scores. GMA and ASQ classifications showed a statistically significant but weak association (P = .03); 31 of 35 infants with low ASQ scores had typical GMA findings.IN PRACTICE"Given the growing interest in integrating GMA into routine follow- up programmes, eHealth solutions that enable parents to submit home videos offer clear advantages, including improved accessibility and convenience. This could expand the use of GMA in follow-up programmes," the authors of the study wrote."However, face-to-face clinical assessments are still essential to ensure equitable and comprehensive follow ups for all infants and families," they concluded.SOURCEThis study was led by Annemette Brown, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. It was published online on September 08, 2026, in Acta Paediatrica.LIMITATIONSThe study included a relatively small number of infants with atypical GMA classifications. Home-based smartphone video recordings may have introduced variability compared with standardised clinic-based assessments in uncontrolled home environments. An ongoing 2-year follow-up study is evaluating the long-term predictive value of GMA and ASQ findings.DISCLOSURESThis study was funded by the Elsass Foundation Denmark and the Swedish Research Council for Health. The authors declared having no relevant conflicts of interest.This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.