title: A review of environmental contributions to childhood motor skills.
abstract: Although much of children's motor skills have a heredity component, at least half of the variance is likely to be influenced by the environment. It is important to ascertain features of the environment that are responsible so that toxins can be avoided, children at risk can be identified, and beneficial interventions initiated. This review outlines the results of published studies and recommends the areas where further research is required. We found much confusion with little comparability concerning the ages or measures used. Few studies had sufficient power and few allowed for confounders. We found that research to date implicates associations with prenatal drinking ≥4 drinks of alcohol per day; diabetes; taking antidepressant drugs; being deficient in iodine or iron; dietary fish; and postnatal depression. The child appearing to be most at risk was born of low birth weight (but not due to preterm delivery) or with neonatal problems.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom Jean.Golding@bristol.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Golding
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Emmett
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Yasmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iles-Caven
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steer
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Raghu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lingam
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology
keywords: environmental causation; motor development; neurotoxicants; socioeconomic factors