Abstract
Premature babies are subjected to environmental stresses that can affect brain maturation and cause abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome later in life. Better understanding this link is crucial to developing a clinical tool for early outcome estimation. We defined maturational trajectories between the Electroencephalography (EEG)-derived ‘brain-age’ and postmenstrual age (the age since the last menstrual cycle of the mother) from longitudinal recordings during the baby’s stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Data consisted of 224 recordings (65 patients) separated for normal and abnormal outcome at 9–24 months follow-up. Trajectory deviations were compared between outcome groups using the root mean squared error (RMSE) and maximum trajectory deviation (δmax). 113 features were extracted (per sleep state) to train a data-driven model that estimates brain-age, with the most prominent features identified as potential maturational and outcome-sensitive biomarkers. RMSE and δmax showed significant differences between outcome groups (cluster-based permutation test, p < 0.05). RMSE had a median (IQR) of 0.75 (0.60–1.35) weeks for normal outcome and 1.35 (1.15–1.55) for abnormal outcome, while δmax had a median of 0.90 (0.70–1.70) and 1.90 (1.20–2.90) weeks, respectively. Abnormal outcome trajectories were associated with clinically defined dysmature and disorganised EEG patterns, cementing the link between early maturational trajectories and neurodevelopmental outcome.
Highlights
Premature babies are subjected to environmental stresses that can affect brain maturation and cause abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome later in life
An enhanced understanding of key maturational biomarkers linked to long-term outcome during the period in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) would better ensure optimal brain development and facilitate an automated assessment of outcome[2,3]
The trajectory root mean squared error (RMSE) and r across N f are shown in Fig. 2a,b, respectively, on the left-out data after performing LOSO on 1
Summary
Premature babies are subjected to environmental stresses that can affect brain maturation and cause abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome later in life Better understanding this link is crucial to developing a clinical tool for early outcome estimation. Abnormal outcome trajectories were associated with clinically defined dysmature and disorganised EEG patterns, cementing the link between early maturational trajectories and neurodevelopmental outcome. As preterm babies spend the majority of their time in sleep, previous clinical research has suggested the use of sleep ontogenesis (the changing nature of sleep cycles with age) as a means to quantify brain maturation and identify abnormal deviations[5,6]. It is assumed that EEG sleep states will exhibit patterns that reflect the actual age, i.e. that the baby’s ‘brain-age’ is matched. Background EEG can show a combination of both dysmature and disorganised patterns and both have been previously identified visually for clinical diagnoses and prognoses[14,15,17,18]
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