Telehealth Program for Infants at Risk of Cerebral Palsy during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Pre-post Feasibility Experimental Study

Abstract

Aim: To verify the effects of a telerehabilitation program for infants at high risk for Cerebral Palsy (CP) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: Longitudinal study. Infants were aged 3–18 months corrected age, at risk of developmental delay. The General Movement Assessment or a neurologic examination were performed to identify the risk of CP. Motor function was assessed using the Gross Motor Function Measure-88 (GMFM-88) and the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS). Caregivers of infants at high risk of CP applied a home-based program supervised by a Physical therapist, five times a week over 12 weeks. The program included guidance for optimal positioning, optimization of goal-directed activities, environmental enrichment, and educational strategies.

Results: 100 infants at risk for delayed motor development were recruited. Eighteen infants were classified at high risk of CP, and 10 families completed telerehabilitation (83% final retention rate). No adverse events were reported. Adherence to the telecare program was high (90%). The costs were low. We found increased scores for all dimensions and the total score of the GMFM-88, and the AIMS percentile at the end of the intervention. Most infants presented a clinically significant change for the GMFM-88.

Conclusions: The telecare program was feasible.

Keywords:

• Infants
• rehabilitation
• physical therapy
• telehealth
• cerebral palsy

Acknowledgements

We thank Beatriz Rodrigues Mateus, Bianca Sabino, Karina Franco Mattos, and Ângela Damiani, for their contribution to data collection.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – [grant number – Finance code 001] and the Fundção de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Estado de Santa Catarina (FAPESC 2021TR1534). Tatiane Schlichting received a scholarship financed by the Uniedu/FUMDES (Number: 1423/SED/2019). The CAPES and the Uniedu/FUMDES had no role in the design and conduct of the study.