Electroencephalogram in low-risk term newborns predicts neurodevelopmental metrics at age two years

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether neurodevelopmental biomarkers at 2 years of age are already present in the newborns' EEG at birth.

Methods: Low-risk term newborns were enrolled and studied utilizing EEG prior to discharge from the birth hospital. A 14-channel EEG montage (scalp-level) and source signals were calculated using the EEG. Their spectral power was calculated for each of the five frequency bands. Cognitive, language and motor skills were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III at age 2 years. The relationship between the spectral power in each frequency band and neurodevelopmental scores were quantified using the Spearman's r. The role of gender, gestational age (GA) and delivery mode, if found significant (P < 0.05), were controlled by analyzing partial correlation.

Results: We studied 47 newborns and found a significant association between gender, and delivery mode with EEG power. Scalp- and source-level spectral powers were positively associated with cognitive and language scores. At the source level, significant associations were identified in the parietal and occipital regions.

Conclusions: Electrophysiological biomarkers of neurodevelopment at age 2 years are already present at birth in low-risk term infants.

Significance: Low-risk newborns' EEG utility as a screening tool to optimize neurodevelopmental outcome warrants further evaluation.

Keywords: Automated anatomical labeling atlas; Developmental assessment; Linearly constrained minimum variance beamformer; Low-risk term newborns; Source reconstruction; Spectral analysis.