Diseases of Children

Abstract

and especially for those with an interest either in the newborn or in neurology. Dr. Beintema's book describes another Groningen study, designed to test the consistency and reliability of the findings in the neonatal neurological examination originally devised by Prechtl and Beintema. 49 fullterm infants were each examined practically every day during the first 9 days of life. The results for each individual test in the examination are analysed for their variation with the day of life and their correlation with pre-, peri-, and postnatal factors. The value of the study is limited by the selection of the sample; few, if any, of the babies had what paediatricians would regard as serious neurological disorders. The nonneurological data on the postnatal period do not conform to the rigorous standards set by the remainder of the study. The contents of this book would probably have been more useful in a much briefer form. It will be of limited appeal; those directly concerned with neonatal neurology will need to study it, but they will find it hard work.