Early screening tool for developmental delay in infancy: Quantified assessment of movement asymmetry using IR-UWB radar

Abstract

In the untact COVID-19 era, the feasibility of a noncontact, impulse-radio ultrawideband (IR-UWB) radar sensor has important medical implications. Premature birth is a major risk factor for brain injury and developmental delay; therefore, early intervention is crucial for potentially achieving better developmental outcomes. Early detection and screening tests in infancy are limited to the quantification of differences between normal and spastic movements. This study investigated the quantified asymmetry in the general movements of an infant with hydrocephalus and proposes IR-UWB radar as a novel, early screening tool for developmental delay. To support this state-of-the-art technology, data from actigraphy and video camcorder recordings were adopted simultaneously to compare relevant time series as the infant grew. The data from the three different methods were highly concordant; specifically, the rho(z) values comparing radar and actigraphy, which served as the reference for measuring movements, showed excellent agreement, with values of 0.66 on the left and 0.56 on the right. The total amount of movement measured by radar over time increased overall; movements were almost dominant on the left at first (75.2% of total movements), but following shunt surgery, the frequency of movement on both sides was similar (54.8% of total movements). As the hydrocephalus improved, the lateralization of movement on radar began to coincide with the clinical features. These results support the important complementary role of this radar system in predicting motor disorders very early in life.