Sample Entropy Identifies Differences in Spontaneous Leg Movement Behavior between Infants with Typical Development and Infants at Risk of Developmental Delay.

Douglas Vanderbilt,Bryon Applequist,Beth Smith,Anastasia Kyvelidou

doi:10.3390/technologies5030055

Douglas Vanderbilt, Bryon Applequist + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies5030055

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Abstract

We are interested in using wearable sensor data to analyze detailed characteristics of movement, such as repeatability and variability of movement patterns, over days and months to accurately capture real-world infant behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore Sample Entropy (SampEn) from wearable sensor data as a measure of variability of spontaneous infant leg movement and as a potential marker of the development of neuromotor control. We hypothesized that infants at risk (AR) of developmental delay would present significantly lower SampEn values than infants with typical development (TD). Participants were 11 infants with TD and 20 infants AR. We calculated SampEn from 1–4 periods of data of 7200 samples in length when the infants were actively playing across the day. The infants AR demonstrated smaller SampEn values (median 0.21) than the infants with TD (median 1.20). Lower values of SampEn indicate more similarity in patterns across time, and may indicate more repetitive, less exploratory behavior in infants AR compared to infants with TD. In future studies, we would like to expand to analyze longer periods of wearable sensor data and/or determine how to optimally sample representative periods across days and months.

Highlights

Studies of infant leg movements tend to quantify infants’ behavior from seconds [1] to minutes [2,3], up to an hour or two [4,5,6]
Since we explored Sample Entropy (SampEn) values from wearable sensor data from both infants with typical development (TD) and at risk (AR) of developmental delay, we hypothesized that infants
SampEn values of spontaneous leg movements were smaller in infants AR compared to infants with TD

Summary

Introduction

Studies of infant leg movements tend to quantify infants’ behavior from seconds [1] to minutes [2,3], up to an hour or two [4,5,6]. Despite the great knowledge gathered from these studies, it has recently been argued that to further advance the field, we must use new technologies to sample development for a minimum of 24 h per sample in order to overcome the effects of circadian rhythms, behavioral context, environmental stimuli, mood and motivation, among others [7]. Namely accelerometers, allow for longer-term data collection and analysis of infants behavior over 24 or even 48 continuous hours [8,9,10]. Researchers quantified leg activity of infants with and without Down syndrome over 48 h at 3, 4, 5, and 6 months of age as low or high intensity activity

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