title: Developmental coordination disorder in extremely low birth weight children at nine years.
abstract: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is defined as an impairment in the development of motor coordination that interferes with academic achievement or activities of daily living (DSM-IV). DCD has been reported to affect 5% to 9% of children in the normal population. This study describes the prevalence of DCD in a cohort of extremely low birth weight children (ELBW, < or = l800 g) at 8.9 years of age, from which were excluded children with major impairments. Seventy-three children were included in the study group, along with 18 term-born, socially matched controls. Of the 73 ELBW children, 37 (51%) were classified as having DCD. ELBW children with DCD also had significantly lower Performance IQ (PIQ) scores and were more likely (43%) to have a learning difficulty in arithmetic than ELBW children who did not have DCD. This study found that DCD is a common problem in school-aged ELBW children.
authors.affiliation: Occupational Therapy Department and Neonatal Follow-Up Programme, British Columbia's Children Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. lholsti@cw.bc.ca
authors.forename: Liisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Holsti
authors.forename: Ruth V E
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Grunau
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Whitfield
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight / Q000523:psychology*; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance