Identification of Developmental Delay in Infants Using Wearable Sensors: Full-Day Leg Movement Statistical Feature Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines how features extracted from full-day data recorded by wearable sensors are able to differentiate between infants with typical development and those with or at risk for developmental delays. Wearable sensors were used to collect full-day (8–13 h) leg movement data from infants with typical development (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}$n=12$ \end{document}) and infants at risk for developmental delay (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}$n = 24$ \end{document}). At 24 months, at-risk infants were assessed as having good (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}$n = 10$ \end{document}) or poor (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}$n = 9$ \end{document}) developmental outcomes. With this limited size dataset, our statistical analysis indicated that accelerometer features collected earlier in infancy differentiated between at-risk infants with poor and good outcomes at 24 months, as well as infants with typical development. This paper also tested how these features performed on a subset of the data for which the infant movement was known, i.e., 5-min intervals more representative of clinical observations. Our results on this limited dataset indicated that features for full-day data showed more group differences than similar features for the 5-min intervals, supporting the usefulness of full-day movement monitoring.

Automatic Posture and Movement Tracking of Infants with Wearable Movement Sensors

“…For instance, there may be substantial day-to-day variation in motility, which needs to define a balance between the added information gain vs practical costs of longer recording periods [18]. Preliminary studies have shown, however, that quantitative movement analysis of infants may be possible with accuracy that even allows clinical outcome predictions [1]. Designing an infant medical wearable of this kind is a very multidisciplinary challenge.…”

Implementation of Wearable Sensing Technology for Movement: Pushing Forward into the Routine Physical Rehabilitation Care Field

“…In autism spectrum disorder research, wearable devices have been used to study sleep patterns, stereotyped behaviors, and metabolic disease risk [ 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 ]. Researchers have also used wearables to identify infants with developmental delays and infants with movement disorders associated with cerebral palsy [ 115 , 116 ] and children with ADHD [ 105 ]. While their value for pediatric physical rehabilitation is clear, two special considerations for pediatric wearable device system use are the data collection protocol and the physical design of the device.…”

Early Motor Development Predicts Clinical Outcomes of Siblings at High-Risk for Autism: Insight from an Innovative Motion-Tracking Technology

“…A lack of movement variability was mostly identified in infants who developed delays or disabilities [ 65 , 66 , 67 ] and abnormal GMs were reported in several infants with ASD and NDDs [ 25 , 30 , 68 , 69 ]. Moreover, a previous study measuring kinematic parameters using wearable sensors in 1–8-month-old infants detected different acceleration features between at-risk infants diagnosed with developmental delay or with no diagnosis and infants with typical development [ 70 ].…”