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Motor outcomes and visual function in adults born preterm with very low birthweight
Silje D Benum1, Urd E Svennevig2, Anna Fivelstad2
1Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Aim:
To examine whether being born preterm (<37 weeks' gestation) with very low birthweight (VLBW ≤1500 g) is associated with poorer outcomes in mid-adulthood, and whether this association is mediated by visual function.
Method:
In two prospective cohorts from Finland and Norway, motor outcomes and visual function were assessed in 118 adults born with VLBW and 147 term-born control individuals. Risk differences (95% confidence intervals [CI]) were assessed for overall and gross motor difficulties (<5th centile on Bruininks Motor Ability Test Short Form and Revised High-level Mobility Assessment Tool) and fine motor difficulties (>2 standard deviations on the Grooved Pegboard and Trail Making Test-5). We investigated the association between VLBW and motor outcomes with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) as mediator.
Results:
Overall motor difficulties were present in 34.7% of the VLBW and 4.8% of the control groups (risk difference 29.9%; 95% CI 20.6-39.1). Risk differences were 2.6% (-1.1 to 6.2) to 12.3% (4.9-19.7) for fine motor difficulties and 15.5% (7.5-23.6) for gross motor difficulties. BCVA mediated the association between VLBW and fine motor difficulties as well as continuous overall, fine, and gross motor scores.
Interpretation:
Whether the findings reflect a causal pathway between visual function and motor outcomes, or a shared aetiology, cannot be answered in this study.
