Video and Wearable Sensor Technologies for Early Detection of Cerebral Palsy in Infants: A Scoping Review

TL;DR

This review explores how video and wearable sensors can help detect cerebral palsy in infants early, highlighting promising but limited current research.

Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive overview of emerging technologies for early detection of cerebral palsy in infants.

Findings

Wearable sensors and video-based motion analysis are commonly used to detect abnormal motor patterns in infants.

Most studies are limited by small sample sizes and short follow-up durations.

The technologies show diagnostic potential but require larger datasets for validation.

Abstract

It is well established that early diagnosis and subsequent intervention can result in significant benefits in infants with neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy (CP). This scoping review aimed to assess the current state of the literature regarding the use of innovative and emerging technologies for early CP screening, diagnosis and phenotyping in pre-ambulatory children. Searches were performed across PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases; articles were screened by four independent reviewers at the title/abstract and full-text levels. Forty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria. The most frequently used modalities included wearable sensors (e.g., accelerometers, inertial measurement units) and video-based motion analysis. These movement-tracking systems were used to screen for a variety of pediatric-onset neurodevelopmental disorders and have been useful in quantifying spontaneous infant movements, detecting the absence or abnormality of fidgety movement, or identifying atypical motor patterns. Although CP was our primary focus, several studies applied a similar pipeline to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), underscoring broader relevance for early neurodevelopmental screening, diagnosing and phenotyping. Overall, technology-assisted motor assessment demonstrated promising feasibility and diagnostic potential; however, most studies are limited by small sample sizes, short follow-up durations, and heterogeneous validation methods. Given the benefits of early intervention and the emerging capabilities of wearable and video-based analytics, larger multi-site and longitudinal datasets are needed to support early diagnosis, risk stratification, and functional phenotyping in CP.

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