Neuromotor development in infants with cerebral palsy investigated by the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination during the first year of age

Background: The Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE) is a simple and scorable method for assessing infants between 2 and 24 months of age. Aims: The purpose of this retrospective study was firstly, to evaluate the neuromotor development of infants with cerebral palsy (CP) by the HINE, during the first year of age; secondly, to correlate the scoring of this neurological tool with levels of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). Methods: A cohort of 70 infants with a diagnosis of CP at 2 years of age was evaluated by the HINE at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of corrected age and by GMFCS at 2 years of age. Results: The main results indicate that at 3–6 months, infants with quadriplegia (IV and V levels of GMFCS) and those with severe diplegia (III level) scored below 40, whereas those with mild or moderate diplegia (I–II level) and hemiplegia (I–II level) mainly scored between 40–60. Interestingly, the 26% of infants with hemiplegia scored X67 at 12 months. We observed a strong (r ¼ 0.82) and significant (po0.0001) negative correlation between the scores of the neurological examination and the levels of GMFCS. Conclusions: Our results point out that the HINE can give additional information about neuromotor development of infants with CP from 3–6 months of age, strictly related to the gross motor functional abilities at 2 years of age.