Introduction: Due to inefficient respiratory control, newborns become prone to asynchronous thoracoabdominal (TA) movements. The present study quantitatively estimated the synchrony of TA in preterm and full-term newborns through an inertial and magnetic measurement units (IMMUs) system.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 20 newborns divided into Preterm Group (PTG, n = 10) and Full-Term Group (FTG, n = 10). Each neonate had IMMUs placed on the sternum and near the umbilicus, thus the TA motion was estimated through the resultant inclination angles calculated using a sensor fusion filter. The respiratory incursions were also manually counted and video-recorded for two minutes, then used to validate a Matlab custom-written routine for their automatic identification. The respiratory cycles were used to calculate the phase change angle (φ) between the thoracic and abdominal compartments. Association between the manual and automatic methods were verified by Pearson's correlation and root mean squared errors (RMSE), and the comparison between the groups was performed through the Student's t test with α = .05.
Results: The values of respiratory incursions measured by both methods showed a high association and low measurement error (r = .96, RMSE = 9.8, p < .001). The FTG presented a higher occurrence of TA synchrony (p = .049) while the PTG group presented a higher occurrence of TA asynchrony (p = .036). No difference was found between the groups regarding the paradoxical classification (p = .071).
Conclusion: The proposed method was valid to quantitatively assess the TA synchrony of hospitalized neonates. Preterm infants had a higher occurrence of the asynchronous respiratory pattern in comparison to full-term infants.
Keywords: infants; kinematics; neonatal care; respiratory pattern; thoracoabdominal motion; wearable sensors.
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