Very Preterm Early Motor Repertoire and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 8 Years

• Published in: Pediatrics (Evanston) Vol. 148; no. 3; p. 1
• Main Authors: Salavati, Sahar, Bos, Arend F., Doyle, Lex W., Anderson, Peter J., Spittle, Alicia J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Evanston American Academy of Pediatrics 01.09.2021
• Subjects: Age; Children; Cognitive ability; Demographic aspects; Executive function; Gestation; Infants; Infants (Premature); Motor ability; Motor task performance; Movement disorders; Pediatrics; Physiological aspects; Premature birth; Premature infants; Risk factors; Short term memory; Netherlands
• ISSN: 0031-4005; 1098-4275
• DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-049572

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Children born very preterm (<32 weeks’ gestation) have more neurodevelopmental problems compared with term-born peers. Aberrant fidgety movements (FMs) are associated with adverse motor outcomes in children born very preterm. However, associations of aberrant FMs combined with additional movements and postures to give a motor optimality score-revised (MOS-R) with school-aged cognitive and motor outcomes are unclear. Our aim with this study was to determine those associations. METHODS Of 118 infants born <30 weeks’ gestation recruited into a randomized controlled trial of early intervention, 97 had a general movements assessment at 3 months’ corrected age and were eligible for this study. Early motor repertoire including FMs and MOS-R were scored from videos of infant’s spontaneous movement at 3 months’ corrected age. At 8 years’ corrected age, cognitive and motor performances were evaluated. Associations of early FMs and MOS-R with outcomes at 8 years were determined using linear regression. RESULTS Seventy-eight (80%) infants with early motor repertoire data had neurodevelopmental assessments at 8 years. A higher MOS-R, and favorable components of the individual subscales of the MOS-R, including the presence of normal FMs, were associated with better performance for general cognition, attention, working memory, executive function and motor function at 8 years; eg, presence of normal FMs was associated with a 21.6 points higher general conceptual ability score (95% confidence interval: 12.8–30.5; P < .001) compared with absent FMs. CONCLUSIONS Favorable early motor repertoire of infants born <30 weeks is strongly associated with improved cognitive and motor performance at 8 years.