Visual perception, fine motor, and visual-motor skills in very preterm and term-born children before school entry–observational cohort study

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

  • Anne Kathrin Dathe
  • Jäkel, Julia
  • Julia Franzel
  • Thomas Hoehn
  • Ursula Felderhoff-Mueser
  • Britta M. Huening

Very preterm children (<32 weeks gestation at birth; VP) are at risk of developmental difficulties. Specific functional difficulties and delays in visual perception, fine motor, and visual-motor skills have received little research attention, although they are critical for daily life and school readiness. Our aim was to assess these skills in a contemporary cohort of 60 VP and 60 matched term-born children before school entry. We administered the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC-2) and the Developmental Test of Visual Perception (DTVP-2). Linear and logistic regressions were run to test group differences in performance and rates of developmental delay in visual perception, fine motor, and visual-motor skills. Very preterm children had lower scores than term-born children in visual perception (β = −0.25; p = 0.006), fine motor (β = −0.44; p < 0.001), and visual-motor tasks (β = −0.46; p < 0.001). The rate of developmental delay (<−1 SD) was higher among VP in visual perception (odds ratio (OR) = 3.4; 95% confidence interval (CI 1.1–10.6)), fine motor (OR = 6.2 (2.4–16.0)), and visual-motor skills (OR = 13.4 (4.1–43.9)) than in term-born controls. VP children are at increased risk for clinically relevant developmental delays in visual perception, fine motor, and visual-motor skills. Following up VP children until preschool age may facilitate early identification and timely intervention.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer276
TidsskriftChildren
Vol/bind7
Udgave nummer12
ISSN2227-9067
DOI
StatusUdgivet - dec. 2020
Eksternt udgivetJa

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
B.M.H. has received a travel grant to visit the jENS Meeting in Maastricht, Netherlands, by Chiesi GmbH. The APC was funded by the University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Funding Information:
Funding: B.M.H. has received a travel grant to visit the jENS Meeting in Maastricht, Netherlands, by Chiesi GmbH. The APC was funded by the University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

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