The Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) in very low birth weight infants and outcome at two years of age

• Published in: Journal of perinatology Vol. 41; no. 10; pp. 2432 - 2441
• Main Authors: Madayi, Anitha, Shi, Luming, Zhu, Yanan, Daniel, Lourdes Mary, Noordin, Asila Alia, Sherwood, Shelly Anne Marie, Rajadurai, Victor Samuel, Khoo, Poh Choo, Huey Quek, Bin, Agarwal, Pratibha Keshav
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.10.2021; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/308; 692/700; Age; Birth weight; Birth weight, Low; Cognitive ability; Enterocolitis; Evaluation; Function tests (Medicine); Gestational age; Health aspects; Infants; Infants (Premature); Low birth weight; Medical examination; Medical screening; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Methods; Motor ability; Motor task performance; Necrotizing enterocolitis; Pediatric research; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Periventricular leukomalacia; Premature birth; Resuscitation; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Weight; Singapore
• ISSN: 0743-8346; 1476-5543
• DOI: 10.1038/s41372-021-01067-w

Objective To evaluate TIMP in preterm very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, analyze risk factors, for atypical TIMP (aTIMP) scores, and explore TIMP’s predictive relationship with Bayley-III at 2 years. Method A prospective study of 288 VLBW infants, with TIMP assessment between 34 weeks postmenstrual age and 16 weeks age, corrected for prematurity. Result aTIMP scores were observed in 58/288(20%) infants, whose mean birth weight (BW) and gestational age were 1122 ± 257 g and 29.2 ± 2.12 weeks respectively. Risk factors included BW < 750 g (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.3–17.7) and 750–1000 g (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2–6.9), presence of necrotizing enterocolitis ≥ stage 2; or focal intestinal perforation (OR 4.6, 95% CI 1.4–14.4), periventricular leukomalacia (OR 22.4,95% CI 2.0–246.2), and need for intensive resuscitation at birth (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3–5.5). aTIMP scores correlated with Bayley-III Score <85 in motor and cognitive domains with high specificity (80–82%) and negative predictive value (85–94%). Conclusion Identification of the risk factors for aTIMP scores will enable targeted intervention to optimize resources and outcomes in VLBW infants.