title: Differences in movement quality at term among preterm and term infants.
abstract: Significant differences in movement quality at term are reported in high-risk preterm (n = 18), low-risk preterm (n = 21) and term (n = 20) infants. Movement quality was judged using 2-minute video collection of general movements; three parameters of movement quality could be assessed reliably in a semiquantitative way: fluency, spatiotemporal variability and sequencing. The parameters fluency and variability correlated highly with each other (r = 0.47-0.99) while their correlations with sequencing were less (r = 0.42-0.67). Significant differences on all quality parameters were noted between term, low-risk preterm and high-risk preterm infants (p < 0.001-0.05). The findings indicate a significant impact of prematurity per se and brain damage on movement quality.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Neonatology, University Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland. Tanja.Kakebeeke@unifr.ch
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kakebeeke
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: von Siebenthal
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Largo
mesh_terms: D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology; D001724:Birth Weight; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000503:physiopathology; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology; D007969:Leukomalacia, Periventricular / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D014743:Videotape Recording