NEURODEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOME IN BABIES WITH A LOW APGAR SCORE FROM ZIMBABWE

The early identification of neurological dysfunction in the neonatal p eriod, the predictive value of single items of the neonatal neurologic al examination (NNE) adapted from Prechtl and the developmental outcom e at 1 year of age in infants with a low Apgar score in Zimbabwe were studied. One hundred and sixty-five infants were examined with the NNE and 142 with the Bayley Scale of Infant Development (BSID) at 1 year of age. Twenty-three infants had cerebral palsy, ten had a motor delay or developmental delay, and four were mentally retarded. The NNE prov ed to be a sensitive instrument for detecting neurodevelopmental abnor mality. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relat ionship between the BSID and nine selected predictors from the NNE. Th is resulted in a correct classification of 94%. However, the number of false negatives was high. By using only the variability of movements and fixation as predictors the number of false negatives was reduced t o one.