Hand Preference and Cognitive, Motor, and Behavioral Functioning in 10-Year-Old Extremely Preterm Children

Abstract

The association of hand preference (left, mixed, and right) with cognitive, academic, motor, and behavioral function was evaluated in 864 extremely preterm children at 10 years of age. Left-handed and right-handed children performed similarly but mixed-handed children had greater odds of functional deficits across domains than right-handed children.

Figure 1

Forest plots of odds ratios and 99% confidence intervals for risk of outcomes of interest at age 10 years associated with left-hand preference (left panels) and mixed hand preference (right panels) relative to children with right-hand preference. Part A: Odds of z scores ≤ −2 on each DAS-II, OWLS, WIAT-III, and NEPSY-II assessment. Part B: Odds of positive screens for behavior problems on the CSI-4 and for an ASD diagnosis at age 10 years. Analyses were adjusted for mother’s age < 21 years at delivery, gestational age category 23–24 weeks, birth weight Z-score < −2, and male sex. Large black dots indicate that the odds ratios are significantly >1 (p < 0.01), as does the lower bound of the confidence interval to the right of the vertical line.