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Updated: Jul 2, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
National screening program vs. standardized neurodevelopmental follow-up
Cornelia Maschke1, Birte Ellenrieder, Kurt Hecher
1Department of Neonatology, University Children's Hospital, Bonn, Germany. Cornelia.Graef@ukb.uni-bonn.de
Insights
Utilizing national child development screening programs can effectively monitor neurodevelopmental outcomes in high-risk infants, reducing costs and resources for essential follow-up care.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pediatric neurodevelopment
- Medical screening programs
Background:
- Long-term follow-up is crucial for evaluating new therapeutic interventions.
- Assessing the long-term impact of treatments requires robust monitoring strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of a national child development screening program for follow-up examinations.
- To determine if a standardized screening program can adequately assess neurodevelopmental outcomes in a specific patient cohort.
Main Methods:
- Neurodevelopmental outcomes of 139 survivors post-intrauterine laser coagulation for severe twin-twin transfusion syndrome were assessed.
- Comparison between a standardized neurodevelopmental follow-up and a national pediatricians' screening examination was performed.
Main Results:
- Screening and standardized tests yielded identical results in 90.6% of cases.
- The national screening program identified 135 out of 139 children correctly, missing only 4 (2.9%) with minor neurological disabilities.
- The screening demonstrated a sensitivity of 78% and specificity of 93% for detecting neurodevelopmental abnormalities.
Conclusions:
- Established national screening programs can be effectively utilized for extended follow-up studies.
- Implementing existing screening programs offers significant reductions in costs, time, and manpower for follow-up research.
Background:
Long-term follow-up is urgently needed to decide on the consequences of new therapies.
Objective:
This study assesses the use of a national child development screening program for a follow-up examination of a defined patient group.
Patients And Methods:
Neurodevelopmental outcome of 139 survivors after intrauterine laser coagulation for severe twin-twin transfusion syndrome was investigated both according to a standardized neurodevelopmental follow-up and according to the pediatricians' screening examinations.
Results:
Screening and standardized tests revealed identical results in 90.6% of the cases. Using the national screening program only four out of 139 children (2.9%) with minor neurological disabilities would have been missed. For identifying mild or severe neurodevelopmental abnormalities the screening has a sensitivity of 78% and a specificity of 93%. The positive predictive value is 61% and the negative predictive value 97%.
Conclusions:
The use of already available and established follow-up programs for extended follow-up studies would considerably reduce costs, time and manpower.
