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High prevalence of abnormal motor repertoire at 3 months corrected age in extremely preterm infants

Toril Fjørtoft1, Kari Anne I Evensen2, Gunn Kristin Øberg3

  • 1Dept. of Clinical Services, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway; Dept. of Lab. Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

European Journal of Paediatric Neurology : EJPN : Official Journal of the European Paediatric Neurology Society
|January 21, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Extremely preterm infants show poorer early motor repertoire compared to term-born infants. These differences persist regardless of ultrasound findings or gestational age, highlighting potential long-term developmental concerns.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal Development
  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Developmental Pediatrics

Background:

  • Extremely preterm infants (ELGAN/ELBW) often exhibit developmental challenges.
  • Early motor repertoire is a sensitive indicator of neurological development in infants.
  • Understanding motor differences in preterm infants is crucial for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the early motor repertoire of extremely preterm infants with that of term-born infants.
  • To investigate the association between motor repertoire and gestational age/birth weight in preterm infants without severe abnormalities.

Main Methods:

  • A multicenter study assessed 82 extremely preterm infants (born <28 weeks and/or <1000g) and 87 term-born infants.
  • The Assessment of Motor Repertoire (AMR) was used at 12 weeks post-term to evaluate fidgety and concurrent movements.
  • Movement patterns were classified as normal (smooth, fluent) or abnormal (monotonous, stiff, jerky, etc.).

Main Results:

  • Significantly higher rates of abnormal fidgety movements (OR: 12.0) and concurrent motor repertoire (OR: 5.3) were observed in preterm infants compared to controls.
  • Almost all detailed aspects of the AMR differed between the extremely preterm and term-born groups.
  • These motor differences remained consistent even after excluding infants with severe ultrasound abnormalities and showed no correlation with gestational age or birth weight.

Conclusions:

  • Extremely preterm infants demonstrate a poorer quality of early motor repertoire compared to their term-born peers.
  • The observed motor deficits were not attributable to severe neonatal ultrasound abnormalities or the degree of prematurity.
  • Future follow-up studies are needed to determine the long-term consequences of these abnormal early movement patterns.
Abstract

Keywords:
Abnormal motor repertoireExtremely preterm infantsGeneral movementsTerm-born infants

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