Inter-rater reliability of the modified Sarnat examination in preterm infants at 32–36 weeks’ gestation

Objective To test the inter-rater reliability of the modified Sarnat neurologic examination in preterm neonates and to correlate abnormalities with the presence of perinatal acidosis. Methods Prospective study of 32–36 weeks’ gestational age infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Each infant had two Sarnat examinations performed at 0.8) except for Moro, while among all examiners agreement was very good ( k > 0.7) except for both Moro and tone. Subgroup analysis at 32–34 weeks’ showed fair/poor Moro compared to excellent agreement at ≥35 weeks. Increasing abnormalities correlated with acidosis ( r = −0.6, P