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Updated: Jul 29, 2025
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Warning Signs on Short Hammersmith Neonatal Neurological Examination and Correlation With Hammersmith Infant
Manisha Bhandankar1, Deepa Metgud2
1Department of Pediatrics, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, Karnataka. Correspondence to: Dr Manisha Bhandankar, Professor of Pediatrics, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, Karnataka. manisha.bhandankar1970@gmail.com.
Objective:
To describe the findings of short Hammersmith Neonatal Neurologic examination (HNNE) in preterm small for gestational age (SGA) and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants at term equivalent age (TEA) and to correlate it with the global score of Hammersmith Infant Neurologic Examination (HINE) performed at 4-6 months of corrected age.
Methods:
This prospective cohort study was conducted at the high risk follow-up clinic of our center. 52 preterm infants born <35 weeks gestation were examined using HNNE at TEA and followed- up till 4-6 months of corrected age to estimate HINE.
Results:
20 infants (38.5%) had warning signs and 9 (17.3%) had abnormal signs on short HNNE. 12 (37.5%) AGA infants and 6 (30%) SGA infants had global score <65 at mean corrected age (SD) of 4.3 (0.7) weeks and 4.5 (0.8) weeks, respectively. Very preterm, birth weight <1000 g and SGA was significantly associated with global scores <65.
Conclusion:
Early identification of warning signs among SGA infants using Short HNNE screening at TEA can be useful to initiate early intervention. There was no statistically significant difference in global scores by HINE among AGA and SGA infants in early infancy.
