Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Oct;61(10):967-977.
doi: 10.1111/ped.13963.

Motor trajectories of preterm and full-term infants in the first year of life

Nadia Cristina Valentini  1   2   3 , Keila Ruttnig Guidony Pereira  4 , Eloá Maria Dos Santos Chiquetti  4 , Cibelle Kayenne Martins Roberto Formiga  5   6 , Maria Beatriz Martins Linhares  7   8
Affiliations

Motor trajectories of preterm and full-term infants in the first year of life

Nadia Cristina Valentini et al. Pediatr Int. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Motor development occurs throughout periods of motor skill acquisition, adjustment and variability. The objectives of this study were to analyze and compare biological and health characteristics and motor skill acquisition trajectories in preterm and full-term infants during the first year of life.

Methods: Two thousand, five hundred and seventy-nine infants (1,361 preterm) from 22 states were assessed using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale. Multivariate General Linear Model, t-tests, ANOVA, and Tukey tests were used.

Results: An age × group significant interaction was found for motor scores. On follow-up tests full-term infants had higher scores in prone, supine, sitting and standing postures that require trunk control from 9 to 10 months of age; although this advantage was observed for sitting from the second month of life.

Conclusion: During the first trimester of life, preterm infants have higher scores in the supine and standing postures. Regarding motor trajectories, from newborn to 12 months, the period of higher motor acquisition was similar between full-term and preterm infants for prone (3-10 months), supine (1-6 months), and standing (6-12 months). For the sitting posture, however, full-term infants had a period of intensive motor learning of acquisition from the first to 7 months of life, whereas for preterm infants a shorter period was observed (3-7 months).

Conclusion: Although the periods of higher motor acquisition were similar, full-term infants had higher scores in more control-demanding postures. Intervention for preterm infants needs to extend beyond the first months of life, and include guidance to parents to promote motor development strategies to achieve control in the higher postures.

Keywords: full-term infant; infant; infant posture; motor behavior; preterm infant.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Case-Smith J. Analysis of current motor development theory and recently published infant motor assessments. Infants Young Child. 1996; 9: 29-41.
    1. Shumway-Cook A, Woollacott MH. Motor Control: Translating Research into Clinical Practice, 3rd edn. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2007.
    1. Clark JE, Metcalfe JS. The mountain of motor development: A metaphor. In: Clark JE, Humphrey JH (eds). Motor Development: Research and Reviews. NASPE Publications, Reston, 2002; 163-90.
    1. Flehmig I. [Text and Atlas of Normal Development and its Deviations in the Infant, Diagnosis and Early Treatment Until the 18th Month.] Atheneu, São Paulo, 2002 (in Portuguese).
    1. Newell KM. Constraints on the development of coordination. In: Wade MG, Whiting HTA (eds). Motor skill acquisition in children: Aspects of coordination and control. Martinus Nijhos, Boston, 1986; 341-60.