A prospective cohort study comparing workload in children with and without developmental coordination disorder

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Motor Development
• Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Background:

• Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affects motor skills in children.
• Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is crucial for overall child health and development.
• Longitudinal data on CRF changes in children with DCD is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the longitudinal changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) between children with probable DCD and typically developing controls.
• To investigate gender differences in CRF trajectories among children with and without DCD.
• To determine if CRF differences widen over time in children with probable DCD.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study with 2278 Grade 4 children followed for 56 months.
• Probable DCD identified using the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency.
• CRF measured by maximal speed on the Léger 20-m shuttle run; analyzed with mixed-effects modeling.

Main Results:

• Children with probable DCD consistently exhibited lower maximal run speeds than controls.
• Significant gender differences observed, with females with probable DCD showing the lowest scores.
• Both genders with probable DCD demonstrated a steeper rate of CRF decline over time compared to controls.

Conclusions:

• A substantial and increasing gap in CRF exists between children with and without probable DCD.
• CRF declines more rapidly in children with probable DCD over time.
• Interventions targeting CRF improvement may be beneficial for children with motor coordination difficulties.