title: Muscular strength at 5 years of children with a birthweight under 1500 g.
abstract: The hand-grip strength was measured as part of the 5-year neurodevelopmental assessment of 24 very low birthweight (VLBW) and 18 normal birthweight (NBW) children. Hand-grip strength was significantly lower in the VLBW children for left and right hands tested individually and for both hands used concurrently. Increasing hand-grip strength was significantly related to 5-year weight percentiles and to being in the NBW group. More of the VLBW children weighed less than the 10th percentile. After adjusting for the 5-year weight percentile, the hand-grip strength of VLBW children was still significantly lower than that for NBW children. This is another aspect of development in which VLBW children are disadvantaged.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Kitchen
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Doyle
mesh_terms: D001835:Body Weight; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009123:Muscle Hypotonia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009132:Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies