Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 26, 2026
Quantified Assessment of Infant's Gross Motor Abilities Using a Multisensor Wearable
Published on: May 17, 2024
Effect of early intervention on premature infants' general movements
Liang Ma1, Bingshang Yang2, Lingdan Meng1
1Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Union Hospital, Bin Zhou Medical College, China.
Insights
Premature infants with lower birth weight or gestational age exhibit more abnormal general movements (GMs). Early intervention significantly improves fidgety movements in these infants.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Development
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Movement Disorders
Background:
- Premature infants often display abnormal general movements (GMs), which are crucial indicators of neurological development.
- Understanding the relationship between gestational age, birth weight, and GM characteristics is vital for early detection of developmental issues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the characteristics of general movements (GMs) in premature infants.
- To evaluate the impact of early intervention on the GMs of premature infants.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 285 premature infants was studied, assessing GMs before and after an early intervention program.
- Infants were categorized by gestational age (<32, 32-34, >34 weeks) and divided into early intervention (n=145) and control (n=140) groups.
- The intervention spanned from the 3rd day after birth to the 54th week of gestational age, with GM rates compared post-intervention.
Main Results:
- Before intervention, lower gestational age and birth weight were significantly correlated with increased cramped-synchronized (CS) movements.
- After intervention, no significant difference in writhing movements was observed between groups.
- Early intervention led to significant improvements in fidgety movements, particularly in infants born extremely preterm (<32 weeks) and late preterm (>34 weeks).
Conclusions:
- Abnormal general movements in premature infants are associated with lower birth weight and gestational age.
- Early intervention demonstrates a positive effect on improving fidgety movements in premature infants, suggesting a potential for enhanced neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Unlabelled:
This study is to investigate the characteristics of premature infants' general movements (GMs) and the effect of early intervention on their GMs.
Methods:
The survey was carried among 285 premature infants. (1) Before intervention, the correlation between the gestational age/ birth weight and the GMs was evaluated. (2) The cases were divided into early intervention group (n=145) and control group (n=140), each group was divided into <32 weeks, 32-34 weeks and >34 weeks group according to gestational age. The early intervention was begun at the 3rd day after birth to 54th week gestational age. The rate of GMs among each group was compared after intervention.
Results:
(1) Before intervention, gestational age/birth weight was negatively correlated with the rate of cramped-synchronized (CS) (r=-0.988, r=-0.95, p<0.01), while no correlation with the rate of poor repertoire (PR) (r=0.122, r=0.168, p>0.05). (2) After intervention, for the writhing movement, there was no significant difference (χ2=0.509, 1.401, 0.519, p>0.05) between the early intervention group and the control group. Nevertheless, for the fidgety movement, there was significant difference (χ2=7.921, χ2=5.763, p<0.05) between the two groups, especially in <32 weeks group (χ2=5.578, 4.067 p<0.05) and in >34 weeks group (χ2=5.757, p<0.05).
Conclusions:
(1) It shows that the lower birth weight or the younger delivery gestational age, the more abnormal GMs in premature infants. (2) Early intervention could improve the fidgety movements of premature infant.
