Relationship between spontaneous kicking and age of walking attainment in preterm infants with very low birth weight and full-term infants.
OBJECTIVE
Although early kicking differences have been reported for preterm infants without overt cranial sonographic abnormalities, their functional importance remains unclear because no outcomes have been measured. Therefore, the first purpose of this prospective study was to examine the age of walking attainment in preterm infants who had very low birth weight (VLBW) but no overt neurosonographic abnormalities and full-term infants without known impairments or pathology. The second purpose was to examine the relationship between spontaneous kicking and age of walking attainment in these infants.


METHODS
Twenty-two preterm infants and 22 full-term infants were examined for kicking movements at 2 and 4 months corrected age and were followed up for age of walking attainment until 18 months corrected age.


RESULTS
Survival analysis showed that infants with VLBW attained walking ability at older ages than full-term infants after correction for prematurity. Cox proportional-hazards regression analyses for all infants revealed that a high hip-knee correlation at 2 months corrected age, a high kick frequency at 4 months corrected age, and a short intra-kick pause together with a low variability in interlimb coordination at 2 and 4 months corrected age were all associated with a decreased rate of walking attainment.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicated that preterm infants who had VLBW but no overt neurosonographic abnormalities had an increased risk of delayed walking attainment compared with full-term infants. Alterations of spontaneous kicking may predict a decreased rate of walking attainment in both preterm and full-term infants.
Jeng
Suh-Fang
SF
Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, No. 7 Chun-Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan. jeng@ntu.edu.tw
Chen
Li-Chiou
LC
Tsou
Kuo-Inn
KI
Chen
Wei J
WJ
Luo
Hong-Ji
HJ
D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014741:Video Recording; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*