Birth weight and physical ability in 5- to 8-yr-old healthy children born prematurely

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B Falk1, A Eliakim, R Dotan

  • 1Ribstein Center for Research and Sport Medicine Sciences, Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel. bfalk@ccsg.tau.ac.il

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
|October 6, 1997
PubMed

Insights

Prematurely born children show lower neuromuscular performance, particularly in peak power and coordination, compared to full-term peers. These deficits are more pronounced in extremely low birth weight infants, suggesting underlying neuromotor factors.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neuromuscular Physiology
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Perinatal Medicine

Background:

  • Advances in perinatal care improve survival rates for extremely premature newborns.
  • Increased survival is associated with a higher incidence of neurodevelopmental impairments.
  • Understanding the specific functional deficits in these children is crucial for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantitatively assess and compare neuromuscular performance in children born prematurely.
  • To investigate the relationship between birth weight and neuromuscular function in preterm infants.
  • To identify potential neuromotor factors contributing to performance differences.

Main Methods:

  • Study included 5- to 8-year-old children born prematurely (535-1760g, N=22) and age-matched full-term controls (>2500g, N=15).
  • Neuromuscular performance was evaluated using a modified Wingate Anaerobic Test and a force-plate vertical jump test.
  • Measurements included peak mechanical power output, peak force, and jump take-off dynamics, all corrected for body mass.

Main Results:

  • Prematurely born children exhibited lower body mass and significantly reduced peak mechanical power output and peak jump power compared to controls.
  • Deficits in power output were more severe in the extremely low birth weight (ELBW, <1000g) subgroup.
  • Premature children showed a longer time between peak velocity and jump take-off, indicating potential inter-muscular coordination issues, with no difference in peak force.

Conclusions:

  • Premature birth, especially at extremely low birth weights, is associated with quantifiable deficits in neuromuscular performance.
  • The findings suggest that impaired inter-muscular coordination may underlie the observed performance deficiencies.
  • Further research is needed to precisely identify the responsible neuromotor factors for targeted therapeutic strategies.

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