title: High prevalence of abnormal motor repertoire at 3 months corrected age in extremely preterm infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare early motor repertoire between extremely preterm and term-born infants. An association between the motor repertoire and gestational age and birth weight was explored in extremely preterm infants without severe ultrasound abnormalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a multicentre study, the early motor repertoire of 82 infants born extremely preterm (ELGAN:<28 weeks) and/or with extremely low birth weight (ELBW:<1000 g) and 87 term-born infants were assessed by the "Assessment of Motor Repertoire - 2 to 5 Months" (AMR) which is part of Prechtl's "General Movement Assessment", at 12 weeks post-term age. Fidgety movements were classified as normal if present and abnormal if absent, sporadic or exaggerated. Concurrent motor repertoire was classified as normal if smooth and fluent and abnormal if monotonous, stiff, jerky and/or predominantly fast or slow.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight-teen ELBW/ELGAN infants had abnormal fidgety movements (8 absent, 7 sporadic and 3 exaggerated fidgety movements) compared with 2 control infants (OR:12.0; 95%CI:2.7-53.4) and 46 ELBW/ELGAN infants had abnormal concurrent motor repertoire compared with 17 control infants (OR:5.3; 95%CI:2.6-10.5). Almost all detailed aspects of the AMR differed between the groups. Results were the same when three infants with severe ultrasound abnormalities were excluded. In the remaining ELBW/ELGAN infants, there was no association between motor repertoire and gestational age or birth weight.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ELBW/ELGAN infants had poorer quality of early motor repertoire than term-born infants.The findings were not explained by severe abnormalities on neonatal ultrasound scans and were not correlated to the degree of prematurity. The consequences of these abnormal movement patterns remain to be seen in future follow-up studies.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Clinical Services, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway; Dept. of Lab. Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: toril.fjortoft@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Toril
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fjørtoft
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Lab. Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Dept. of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Dept. of Physiotherapy, Trondheim Municipality, Norway.
authors.forename: Kari Anne I
authors.initials: KAI
authors.lastname: Evensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Care Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Gunn Kristin
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Øberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Nils Thomas
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Songstad
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Cathrine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Labori
authors.affiliation: Women and Children's Clinic, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Inger Elisabeth
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Silberg
authors.affiliation: Women and Children's Clinic, Department of Paediatric Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loennecken
authors.affiliation: Women and Children's Clinic, Department of Paediatric Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Unn Inger
authors.initials: UI
authors.lastname: Møinichen
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Clinical Services, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway.
authors.forename: Randi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vågen
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Lab. Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Ragnhild
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Støen
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Clinical Services, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway; Dept. of Lab. Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Adde
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D020820:Dyskinesias / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: Abnormal motor repertoire; Extremely preterm infants; General movements; Term-born infants