ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Motor skills in adolescents with low birth weight

K A I Evensen¹, T Vik², J Helbostad³, M S Indredavik⁴, S Kulseng¹ and A-M Brubakk¹

¹ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children’s and Women’s Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
² Department of Community Medicine and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
³ Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Norway
⁴ Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Evensen
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children’s and Women’s Health, St Olavs Hospital, N-7006 Trondheim, Norway; karianne.i.evensen{at}medisin.ntnu.no

Background: Minor motor problems have been reported in low birthweight children, but few studies have assessed motor skills in adolescents.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of motor problems in adolescents with low birth weight.

Method: Fifty four very low birthweight (VLBW: birth weight  1500 g), 59 term small for gestational age (SGA: birth weight < 10th centile), and 83 control (birth weight  10th centile at term) children were assessed with the Movement assessment battery for children (Movement ABC) at the age of 14 in a population based study.

Results: One in four VLBW children (odds ratio (OR) 9.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.5 to 34.5) and one in six SGA children (OR 4.7, 95%CI 1.2 to 18.4) had motor problems compared with controls (3.7%). There were no sex differences in motor problems in the VLBW group, and the increased risk was consistent across the continuum of the Movement ABC. For SGA children, the increased risk of motor problems was particularly in manual dexterity in boys.

Conclusion: VLBW and SGA adolescents have increased risk of motor problems compared with control children.

Abbreviations: IQ_est, estimate of intelligence quotient; Movement ABC, Movement assessment battery for children; SGA, small for gestational age; VLBW, very low birth weight

Keywords: motor skills; very low birth weight; small for gestational age; movement assessment battery for children

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