Abstract
To obtain reference data on the early motor repertoire of very preterm infants compared with healthy term infants at three months' post-term age. In this observational study, using Prechtl's method on the assessment of the early motor repertoire, we compared the quality of fidgety movements and the concurrent motor optimality score - revised of infants with a gestational age <30 weeks and/or a birth weight <1000g with healthy infants with a gestational age of 37-42 weeks. One hundred eighty very preterm and 180 healthy term infants participated. The median motor optimality scores - revised of very preterm infants were significantly lower in comparison to those of term infants, with scores of 24 (25th-75th percentiles: 23-26) and 26 (25th-75th percentiles: 26-28), respectively. Fidgety movements were aberrant (abnormal or absent) more often in very preterm infants than in term infants. The odds ratio was 4.59 (95% CI, 1.51-13.92). Compared with term infants, very preterm infants had poorer scores on the subscales age-adequate movement repertoire, observed postural patterns, and movement character with odds ratios ≥2.97. We found no differences regarding observed movement patterns. This study provides reference data on the early motor repertoire of very preterm and healthy term infants. It demonstrates that the early motor repertoire of very preterm infants is poorer than that of term infants, a finding consistent with existing knowledge that prematurity increases the risk of poor neurodevelopment.
Highlights
The assessment of the early motor repertoire according to Prechtl's method is a widely accepted means of predicting developmental outcome in various types of vulnerable infants [1]
In this study we examined the scores on detailed aspects of the early motor repertoire in a relatively large sample of very preterm and healthy term-born infants
The main finding was that the MOSR of very preterm infants was significantly lower compared with term infants
Summary
The assessment of the early motor repertoire according to Prechtl's method is a widely accepted means of predicting developmental outcome in various types of vulnerable infants [1]. That study reported that extremely preterm-born infants obtain lower scores on all but one subscale of the early motor repertoire, when compared to healthy term-born controls. Regarding the assessment of FMs, another study reported that in extremely preterm-born and infants with an extremely low birth weight, FMs are more likely to be abnormal or absent than in term-born controls [14]. These findings are in line with preterm infants’ risk of developmental problems but should, be confirmed in a larger sample to obtain reference data. The objective of this study is to obtain reference data on MOSRs of very preterm-born and healthy term-born infants
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