Association of Childhood Psychomotor Coordination With Survival Up to 6 Decades Later

G. David Batty,Philipp Frank,Ian J. Deary,Mark Hamer,David Bann

doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.4031

Abstract

Poorer performance on standard tests of motor coordination in children has emerging links with sedentary behavior, obesity, and functional capacity in later life. These observations are suggestive of an untested association of coordination with health outcomes, including mortality. To examine the association of performance on a series of psychomotor coordination tests in childhood with mortality up to 6 decades later. The British National Child Development Study (1958 Birth Cohort Study) is a prospective cohort study based on a nationally representative sample of births from England, Scotland, and Wales. A total of 17 415 individuals had their gross and fine motor psychomotor coordination assessed using 9 tests at ages 11 and 16 years. Data analysis for the present study was conducted from October 2016 to December 2019. All-cause mortality as ascertained from a vital status registry and survey records. In this birth cohort study of 17 415 individuals who underwent a series of psychomotor coordination tests in childhood, follow up was conducted over several decades. Of the analytical sample of 12 678 individuals, 51% were male, and 72% came from a lower social group. Mortality surveillance between ages 12 and 58 years in an analytical sample of 17 062 men and women yielded 1072 deaths (766 661 person-years at risk). In survival analyses with adjustment for sex, higher scores on 7 of the 9 childhood coordination tests were associated with a lower risk of mortality in a stepwise manner. After controlling for early-life socioeconomic, health, cognitive, and developmental factors, lower mortality was statistically significantly associated with 3 tests: ball catching at age 11 years (0-8 vs 10 catches: hazard ratio [HR], 1.57; 95% CI, 1.19-2.07), match-picking at age 11 years (>50 vs 0-36 seconds: HR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.09-1.63), and hopping at age 16 years (very unsteady vs very steady: HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.01-1.63). The results of this cohort study suggest that childhood motor coordination is associated with lower mortality up to middle-age; these findings require replication.

Highlights

Coordinated movement is the product of the dynamic and complex interplay of multiple neural mechanisms that are modulated by sensory inputs and spinal reflex loops.[1]
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES All-cause mortality as ascertained from a vital status registry and survey records. In this birth cohort study of 17 415 individuals who underwent a series of psychomotor coordination tests in childhood, follow up was conducted over several decades
After controlling for early-life socioeconomic, health, cognitive, and developmental factors, lower mortality was statistically significantly associated with 3 tests: ball catching at age 11 years (0-8 vs catches: hazard ratio [Hazard ratios (HRs)], 1.57; 95% CI, 1.19-2.07), match-picking at age years (>50 vs 0-36 seconds: HR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.09-1.63), and hopping at age 16 years

Summary

Introduction

Coordinated movement is the product of the dynamic and complex interplay of multiple neural mechanisms that are modulated by sensory inputs and spinal reflex loops.[1]. In extended follow-up of general population-based surveys into middle and older age, poorer motor skill scores in childhood that lie within the normal range are associated with later physical inactivity,[4,5] lower functional capacity,[6] higher body mass index,[7] mental health problems,[8,9] and worse self-rated health.[9] Findings from a national birth cohort study, for instance, suggest that higher scores on fine motor coordination tasks at age 15 years were associated with superior performance on physical function tests of standing balance and chair rising at age 53 years6—test results that themselves have been linked to greater life-expectancy.[10] In a similar longitudinal study, lower scores on general motor function tests at age 11 years were associated with a higher risk of obesity 2 decades later.[7] Linear associations were evident across the full range of coordination scores such that the association was not generated by children at the lowest end of the continuum in whom a diagnosis of coordination disorder was likely. In comparisons of the characteristics of children with such a diagnosis, there are reports of a greater likelihood of increased levels of blood pressure and triglycerides, less-favorable cardiac output, and lower left-ventricular volume compared with unaffected controls.[11,12]

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Conclusion