Sucking behaviour in infants born preterm and developmental outcomes at primary school age

Area of Science:

• Neonatal development
• Pediatric neurology
• Developmental pediatrics

Background:

• Preterm infants often experience feeding difficulties, impacting their oral-motor skills.
• Early oral-motor function is a potential indicator of neurological development in vulnerable infants.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between sucking abilities in preterm infants and their developmental outcomes at 5 years of age.
• To determine if early oral-motor assessments can predict later developmental trajectories.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal assessment of sucking using the Neonatal Oral-Motor Assessment Scale from 37 to 50 weeks postmenstrual age.
• Evaluation of motor skills, intelligence, language, verbal memory, and behavioral problems at 5 years.
• Statistical analysis using linear regression and Spearman's correlation to identify predictive relationships.

Main Results:

• Better sucking ability was significantly associated with higher scores in total motor skills, balance, and overall intelligence.
• Improved sucking correlated with better verbal and performance intelligence, as well as language development.
• No significant associations were found between sucking and verbal memory or behavioral problems.

Conclusions:

• Sucking function in preterm infants, particularly between 42 and 50 weeks postmenstrual age, is a valuable predictor of cognitive and motor development at 5 years.
• Abnormal sucking patterns may indicate underlying neurological differences in preterm children.
• Early oral-motor assessment offers a non-invasive method to identify preterm infants who may require further developmental support.