King WE, Carlo WA, O’Shea TM, et al. - Researchers aimed at testing the utility of a cumulative heart rate characteristics (HRC) index in real-time throughout the NICU hospitalization, alone or combined with birth demographics and clinical characteristics, in predicting a composite outcome of death or neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI).

• A retrospective analysis of data from extremely low birth weight infants who were monitored for heart rate characteristics during neonatal intensive care.

• Among a total of 598 study participants, higher mean HRC scores were recorded during the stay in the NICU for infants with the composite outcome of death or moderate-to-severe NDI (3.1 ± 1.8 vs 1.3 ± 0.8).

• Findings overall suggest a higher risk of the composite outcome of death or NDI in extremely low birth weight infants in correlation with higher mean HRC scores throughout their stay in the NICU.