General movements of preterm newborns in a neonatal unit and warning signs at hospital discharge: a correlational study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17267/2238-2704rpf.2026.e6479Keywords:
Child Development, Prematurity, Neonatal Intensive Care UnitAbstract
INTRODUCTION: Preterm newborns (PTNBs) require increased care and often need admission to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), where they undergo various invasive procedures. These infants must be assessed and monitored until hospital discharge. OBJECTIVES: To correlate data obtained from the assessment of General Movements (GMs) with the Valoración Al Alta de Neonatología alert signs scale in preterm infants born in a public referral hospital. METHODOLOGY: After obtaining informed consent from the guardians, data from electronic medical records were evaluated and the scales were applied up to 48 hours before discharge. Statistically comparative analyses and the t-test were used to assess the correlation of the data. All infants with legally mandated custody were excluded. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 12 babies, of whom 3 were excluded. Among eligible participants, the most prevalent altered warning sign was cervical tone. In the GMs, complexity was positively associated with infants exhibiting fewer altered warning signs. CONCLUSION: GM complexity showed the most consistent association with adequate neurological signs, demonstrating the effectiveness of both GMs and alert signs and reinforcing the combined usefulness of these assessments for early neurodevelopmental screening in preterm infants.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Gabriela dos Santos Saballa, Mylena Francini da Rosa, Carla Skilhan de Almeida
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
