Motor development from 4 to 8 months corrected age in infants born at or less than 29 weeks’ gestation

Abstract

Aim Clinically, preterm infants show motor delay and atypical postures compared with their peers born at term. A longitudinal cohort study was designed to describe the motor development of very preterm infants from 4 to 18 months corrected age (CA). The study was also designed to investigate how the atypical postures observed in early infancy in the preterm infants might be related to their later motor development. Here we report the findings in early motor skills from 4 to 8 months CA. Method Early motor skills were assessed in 62 preterm infants (32 males, 30 females, mean gestation 26.94wks, SD 1.11) and 53 term infants (32 males, 21 females, mean gestation 39.55wks, SD 1.17) using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS). Results The preterm infants demonstrated different motor behaviours from their term peers, with an uneven progression of motor skills in different positions from 4 to 8 months CA. At 8 months CA, 90%of the term infants were able to sit without arm support, but only 56%of the preterm infants could maintain sitting very briefly without arm support. Interpretation This uneven progression may have been due to an imbalance between the active flexor and extensor strength and hence inadequate postural control in these positions. The AIMS has also been shown to be a valid assessment tool to demonstrate unique characteristics in movement quality in the preterm population.

Cognição e ambiente são preditores do desenvolvimento motor de bebês ao longo do tempo

“…Such possibility was already reported in a previous review study 7,13,25 . Biological factors, despite being frequently mentioned as risks to child development 7,11,26,27 , were not found to influence the regression models in this study.…”

Predictive models of early motor development in preterm infants: a longitudinal-prospective study

“…However, these surviving infants remain at risk due to greater motor, sensorial, behavioural, cognitive and health problems than among children born at term 5,6 . Short-and long-term predictive studies in preterm infants have largely focused on the most immature (< 33 weeks) and lowest-birth-weight (< 1,500 grams at birth) children 7,8. The prediction of development continues to be a challenge for researchers, particularly in the early postnatal period.…”

Desenvolvimento motor no primeiro ano de vida de crianças prematuras conforme o peso de nascimento

“…Estudos que analisaram apenas a influência do BPN no desenvolvimento motor, excluindo as diferenças na idade gestacional, são escassos [19,20], tendo em vista que a maioria avalia em conjunto os dois fatores (peso e idade gestacional ao nascimento), além de incluir outros fatores de risco, sem discriminar a participação individual de cada um deles no desenvolvimento motor [7,[22][23][24][25][26][27]. Logo, esses estudos não indicam qual desses dois fatores apresenta maior participação sobre o déficit motor, embora haja um consenso de que ambos prejudiquem o desenvolvimento infantil.…”

“…Da mesma forma, pesquisas observaram que crianças prematuras com BPN sentaram sem apoio e andaram mais tardiamente do que crianças nascidas a termo [7,25]. Corroborando, Saccani et al [27] destacaram correlação direta e significativa entre o peso ao nascer e os percentis de desempenho referentes às posturas prono, supino, sentado e em pé.…”

“…Ainda, crianças nascidas pré-termo apresentam, no primeiro ano de vida, desempenho inferior a seus pares a termo, principalmente se a prematuridade for associada ao BPN. Os prematuros são mais lentos na aquisição de marcos motores, tais como rolar, sentar, engatinhar, ficar em pé e andar [7,8].…”