Born too soon or too small: Motor problems in adolescence

Abstract

Introduction: Children born too soon (preterm) and or too small (small for gestational age) have increased risk of mortality and morbidity. Main section: Motor problems are frequently reported in children born preterm. Studies on motor skills in children born small for gestational age (SGA) at term have shown inconsistent results. The aim was to study the prevalence of motor problems, whether visual impairments influenced their motor problems, whether integration of vision and proprioception was reduced, and if early motor evaluations could identify children with motor problems in adolescence. We found that a higher proportion of very low body weight (VLBW) and SGA adolescents had motor problems compared with controls. A substantial part of the motor problems in the VLBW, but not in the SGA group, was influenced by visual impairments. The VLBW adolescents with cerebral palsy or low estimated intelligence quotient had poorer inter- and intra-sensory integration, whereas SGA adolescents performed poorer with their non-preferred than their preferred hand. Most of the VLBW adolescents with motor problems were identified already at one year. Conclusion: The results suggest that motor problems in the VLBW group are due to a general brain damage following preterm birth, whereas in the SGA group they may be caused by subtle brain dysfunctions following intrauterine growth restriction.

Keywords

• Motor problems
• very low birth weight
• small for gestational age