Stupperich Sophie, Dathe Anne-Kathrin, DiMercurio Abigail, Connell John P, Baumann Nicole, Jover Marianne, Corbetta Daniela, Jaekel Julia, Felderhoff-Mueser Ursula, Huening Britta
Department of Paediatrics I, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Centre for Translational Neuro and Behavioural Sciences, c-TNBS, Faculty of Medicine, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2024 Dec 18;15:1459009. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1459009. eCollection 2024.
Spontaneous movements are a crucial part of early motor development. Healthy term infants may produce up to 200 spontaneous touches to their body and surface in 10 minutes with their hands. The existing literature shows differences in early motor development between very preterm (<32 weeks gestation) and healthy term infants. It is not known whether the quantity of spontaneous touches differs between very preterm infants and healthy term infants.
This study investigates whether the overall quantity of spontaneous touches to body and surface is lower among low-risk very preterm infants compared with healthy term infants.
Videos of 25 low-risk very preterm infants (10 female) at a mean corrected age of 13 weeks [Mean = 12.76, Standard Deviation (SD) = 1.07] were recorded during clinical routine and compared with videos of five healthy term infants (chronological mean age = 9.00, SD = 0.63). Spontaneous touches of both hands were coded, assessing number and location of each touch (i.e., body vs. surface).
Very preterm infants showed significantly fewer overall touches per minute (Mean = 8.87, SD = 4.13) than healthy term infants (Mean = 13.19, SD = 4.28), 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = [0.00, 6.84] ( = 0.029).
This study shows that low-risk very preterm infants, on average, produce fewer spontaneous touches than healthy term infants at three months of corrected age. The present study provides important exploratory evidence for further studies, particularly longitudinal investigations of all dimensions of development.
自发运动是早期运动发育的关键部分。健康足月儿在10分钟内可能会用手对自己的身体和体表进行多达200次自发触摸。现有文献表明，极早产儿（孕周<32周）和健康足月儿在早期运动发育方面存在差异。目前尚不清楚极早产儿和健康足月儿的自发触摸数量是否存在差异。
本研究调查低风险极早产儿与健康足月儿相比，对身体和体表的自发触摸总量是否更低。
在临床常规检查期间，记录了25名低风险极早产儿（10名女性）的视频，其平均矫正年龄为13周[平均值=12.76，标准差（SD）=1.07]，并与5名健康足月儿的视频进行比较（实际平均年龄=9.00，SD=0.63）。对双手的自发触摸进行编码，评估每次触摸的数量和位置（即身体与体表）。
极早产儿每分钟的总触摸次数（平均值=8.87，SD=4.13）明显少于健康足月儿（平均值=13.19，SD=4.28），95%置信区间（CI）=[0.00，6.84]（P=0.029）。
本研究表明，在矫正年龄3个月时，低风险极早产儿平均产生的自发触摸比健康足月儿少。本研究为进一步研究，特别是对发育各维度的纵向调查提供了重要的探索性证据。
