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Reaching skills of infants born very preterm predict neurodevelopment at 2.5 years

Ylva Fredriksson Kaul1, Kerstin Rosander2, Helena Grönqvist1

  • 1Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Infant Behavior & Development
|June 26, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Early reaching quality in very preterm infants predicts later neurodevelopment. Motor skills in extremely preterm infants relate to action planning, while very preterm infants

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Motor Control

Background:

  • Preterm birth is associated with increased risk of neurodevelopmental challenges.
  • Early motor skills, particularly reaching, may offer insights into later cognitive and language development.
  • Understanding these associations can inform early interventions for high-risk infants.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationship between the quality of reaching for moving objects at 8 months corrected age and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2.5 years.
  • To differentiate these associations based on gestational age at birth (extremely preterm vs. very preterm).

Main Methods:

  • 3D motion capture system used to record reaching movements in 36 very preterm infants at 8 months corrected age.
  • Analysis of reaching parameters including aiming, reach length, movement units, bimanual coordination, and success rate (hits).
  • Neurodevelopmental assessment at 2.5 years using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development III.

Main Results:

  • Strong associations were found between infant reaching kinematics and later cognition and language development.
  • For extremely preterm infants (gestational age < 28 weeks), reaching planning and control were key predictors.
  • For very preterm infants (gestational age 28-31 weeks), the number of successful reaches and bimanual strategies were more relevant.

Conclusions:

  • Extremely preterm infants may face fundamental challenges in integrating motion information with action planning.
  • Very preterm infants' neurodevelopment is more closely linked to the coordination of bimanual reaching.
  • Results suggest gestational age-related differences in neural vulnerability impact motor coordination, with cascading effects on neurodevelopment.

Keywords:
BSID-IIICognitionLanguageMotor functionNeurodevelopment

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