Pankaj Soni, MRCPCH, FRCPCH, Specialist Pediatrician and Clinical Lecturer, Department of Neonatology, Thumbay University Hospital, Al Jurf, Ajman 4184, United Arab Emirates. ps3858@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
research-article
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Pankaj Soni, Mukesh Kumar Yadav, Shailendra Kumar, Bal Krishan Bansal
Pankaj Soni, Shailendra Kumar, Department of Neonatology, Thumbay University Hospital, Ajman 4184, United Arab Emirates
Pankaj Soni, Shailendra Kumar, Department of Clinical Sciences (Pediatric Neonatology), College of Medicine, Gulf Medical University, Ajman 4184, United Arab Emirates
Mukesh Kumar Yadav, Department of Cardiology, National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, NIMS University, Jaipur 303121, Rajasthan, India
Bal Krishan Bansal, Department of Pediatrics, Bansal Child Care Centre, Faridabad 121005, Haryana, India
Author contributions: Soni P designed the study and prepared the original draft; Kumar S performed validation and supervision; Yadav MK and Bansal BK reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version.
AI contribution statement: During manuscript preparation, limited use of AI-based tools (along with Grammarly) was made to assist with grammar correction. All AI-assisted text was carefully reviewed and revised.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Corresponding author: Pankaj Soni, MRCPCH, FRCPCH, Specialist Pediatrician and Clinical Lecturer, Department of Neonatology, Thumbay University Hospital, Al Jurf, Ajman 4184, United Arab Emirates. ps3858@gmail.com
Received: January 26, 2026 Revised: February 7, 2026 Accepted: March 17, 2026 Published online: September 9, 2026 Processing time: 187 Days and 7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Electrocardiography (ECG) remains the reference standard for neonatal heart rate (HR) measurement, providing the fastest and most accurate detection during resuscitation. Limitations include electrode placement delays, skin fragility, and motion artifacts. Existing contact-based methods such as auscultation, palpation, and pulse oximetry are widely used but have limitations such as reduced reliability and dependency on perfusion, especially in preterm or unstable neonates. Emerging non-contact and artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced technologies, including camera-based photoplethysmography, thermal imaging, Doppler, and multimodal AI systems, demonstrate promising accuracy compared with ECG,with faster signal acquisition and improved robustness against motion and lighting variability. This systematic review (2013 –2025) highlights the shift toward safe, contact-free, real-time HR monitoring while noting limited evidence during critical neonatal resuscitation scenarios.
