1. Evaluating the feasibility of implementing the Sup-ER protocol for infants with brachial plexus birth injury.
- Author
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Ho, Emily S., Klar, Karen, Clarke, Howard M., and Davidge, Kristen M.
- Subjects
HUMAN services programs ,PILOT projects ,BIRTH injuries ,SHOULDER joint ,TREATMENT effectiveness ,RETROSPECTIVE studies ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,ROTATIONAL motion ,LONGITUDINAL method ,INFANT care ,ALTERNATIVE medicine ,COMPARATIVE studies ,CONFIDENCE intervals ,BRACHIAL plexus ,RANGE of motion of joints ,SENSITIVITY & specificity (Statistics) ,CHILDBIRTH ,CHILDREN - Abstract
The Sup-ER protocol involves a repositioning program for infants with brachial plexus birth injury to position the shoulder in external rotation (ER) to address progressive loss in passive range of motion (PROM). The British Columbia Children's Hospital (BCCH) eligibility criteria for this protocol are infants aged 4-8 weeks with decreased shoulder ER PROM and/or Active Movement Scale (AMS) shoulder ER and/or supination scores ≤2. The resources needed to implement this protocol in large clinics have not been studied. This study aims to evaluate the BCCH criteria that are used to identify appropriate candidates for the Sup-ER protocol. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to identify the percentage of infants who would have been recommended the Sup-ER protocol based on their PROM and AMS scores between 4 and 8 weeks of age. A sensitivity and specificity evaluation was used to describe the BCCH criteria's ability to identify infants in this historical cohort who went on to have incomplete shoulder function (ie, true positive) vs infants who had functional shoulder outcome at 9 months of age (ie, false positive). At a mean of 5.8 weeks (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.3, 6.3), 46 of the 87 (53%) infants satisfied the BCCH Sup-ER protocol criteria. Forty-four (51%) were female, half (n = 45) were left side affected, and 88% had upper plexus injury. The BCCH Sup-ER protocol criteria had sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 71% to identify infants with incomplete shoulder function. Removing the AMS supination ≤2 score criterion from the criteria improves the specificity to 84%, while sensitivity remains high (97%). Modifying the BCCH criteria to all infants aged 4-8 weeks with AMS shoulder ER ≤2 and/or decreased shoulder ER PROM improves the precision of identifying infants who would benefit from the Sup-ER protocol. • Using the British Columbia Children's Hospital (BCCH) criteria, 53% of infants at a high volume brachial plexus clinic would be recommended the Sup-ER protocol. • Modifying the BCCH criteria by removing the supination criterion reduces the number of qualifying infants by 10% while maintaining high sensitivity (97%). • These modified BCCH criteria improve the precision of identifying infants who would benefit from the Sup-ER protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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