Abstract
A twenty item newborn neurologic evaluation and a five item clinical assessment of maturity were related to gestation, and newborn weight, length and head circumference, in 463 liveborn singleton black infants. The relationships with neurologic score were linear; the correlation was only .23 with gestation, but .48 for birthweight, .35 for length, and .34 for head circ. Regression anal. demonstrated that, after controlling for gestation, birthweight added 20.5% to explained variance. On the other hand, neither gestation, nor length or head circumference added any variance to the 25.6% associated with birthweight. To test whether total score might mask interrelationships, factor analysis was performed on the combined neurologic and clinical items. A three factor solution was optimal, and suggests that the items of the exam are not equivalent; and that a simple additive score obscures much potentially valuable information. The correlations of the factors with predictor variables were:
The relationships of the factors with the independent variables are different than with total score, and suggest “maturity” in the newborn is multi-dimensional. Joint relationships, and interaction between independent variables, will be presented.
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Wilkinson, C., Rush, D. & Behrman, R. REL. OF SOMATIC GROWTH AND LENGTH OF GESTATION TO NEWBORM HEUPOLOGIC MATURITY. Pediatr Res 8, 346 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00038
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00038
