Associations of Quality of General Movements with Aspects Motor Development in Infants at Four- and Eight-Months Age

To investigate the associations of quality of GMs with aspects of motor development in infants at four- and eight-months age.

Full-term and preterm infants were recruited for assessing GMs and IMP at 4- and 8-months age. Quality of GMs, presence or absence of fidgety movements (FMs+ or FMs-), was determined by one certified investigator and aspects of motor development were assessed using IMP by another investigator. IMP total and subscale scores were calculated. Associations of quality of GMs with aspects motor development were examined by comparing IMP total and subscale scores at 4 and 8 months between infants who were FMs+ and FMs- using Mann-Whitney U test. From 4 to 8 months, differences in IMP total and subscale scores were examined using Wilcoxon-Sign rank test for infants who were FMs+ and FMs-. Statistical significance was set at p0.05.

Seventeen full-term and 11 preterm infants were enrolled. According to the results of quality of GMs, twenty-five infants were classified as FM+ and three infants as FMs-. Infants who were FMs+ had a higher gestational age (p0.05) and a comparable birth bodyweight than infants who were FMs- (both p>0.05). Furthermore, infants who were FMs+ revealed higher IMP performance subscale scores at 4 months and IMP total scores and all (except adaptability) subscale scores at 8 months (all p0.001) than infants who were FMs-. From 4 to 8 months, infants who were FMs+ exhibited a significant increase in IMP total scores and variation, fluency, and performance subscale scores (all p0.05) while infants who were FMs- remained no change in all IMP scores (all p>0.05).

Quality of GMs is closely associated with several aspects of motor development of infants during early infancy. Several aspects of neuromotor function, including variation, symmetry, fluency, and performance of movement may be affected in infants who reveal poor quality of GMs.

Infants with poor quality of GMs may continue to exhibit poor neuromotor function during early infancy. The findings suggest that early identification of deviant quality of motor behaviors of infants is important and the connections between poor quality of GMs and aspects of inferior motor development may provide clues for therapists in designing early intervention programs.