title: [Sensory oral motor and global motor development of preterm infants].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  development assessment of preterm infants.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to evaluate the association between the gestational ages (GA) of premature infants with the global motor development as well as with early signs of sensory oral motor development delay, and to verify a possible association between them.
  
  
  METHODS
  an exploratory study that assessed the development of 55 infants with corrected chronological ages between four to five months, born preterm at the Instituto Materno Infantil Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP) and who were followed at the Kangaroo Mother Program Clinic between March and August of 2004. The assessment of the sensory oral motor development was performed through pre-selected indicators and of the global motor development through the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  infants with lower GA (29 to 34 weeks) presented a higher median of risk signs in the sensory oral motor development assessment when compared to those with higher GA (35 to 36 weeks). Regarding the global motor development, infants born with lower GA presented a higher number of scores in the AIMS below percentile 10 (26%) when compared to those with a higher GA (4%) (p=0.009). The median index of the risk signs for the sensory oral motor development were significantly higher among infants with total AIMS scores below percentile 25 when compared to those with scores equal to or above percentile 25.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the gestational age of infants at birth influenced the sensory oral motor and global motor development - infants with lower gestational ages presented worse performances. These findings suggest a possible association between both aspects of infant development.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. afono@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Adriana Guerra
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: de Castro
authors.forename: Marilia de Carvalho
authors.initials: Mde C
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Rebeca Raposo
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: de Aquino
authors.forename: Sophie Helena
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Eickmann
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009055:Mouth / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013391:Sucking Behavior