Peer-reviewed article
Relationships between movement quality and motor milestones in preterm infants: A longitudinal study up to 18 months.
Chia-Hsuan Hsieh, Yen-Ling Lin, Pei-Fen Liao, Shu-Juan Liu, Mijna Hadders-Algra et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study followed 90 preterm infants from birth to 18 months to compare two ways of assessing early motor development: measuring movement quality and tracking milestone achievement. The researchers found that movement quality scores were generally linked to milestone achievement, but the relationship was complex and changed over time. Extremely preterm infants showed lower scores on both measures compared with moderately preterm infants, suggesting movement quality assessment may catch motor difficulties earlier than milestone tracking alone.
Key points
- At 8 and 18 months, movement quality (IMP) scores were significantly positively correlated with milestone achievement (AIMS), but at 12 months the relationship reversed
- Extremely-to-very preterm infants showed significantly lower movement quality and milestone scores at 8, 12, and 18 months compared to moderate-to-late preterm infants
- Movement quality assessment captures motor characteristics not fully reflected by traditional milestone attainment
- Incorporating movement quality measures may improve early identification of subtle motor difficulties
- The study used two standardized assessment tools: the Infant Motor Profile (IMP) for movement quality and the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) for milestones
Limitations
The study does not report country location or demographic characteristics of the sample, limiting generalizability. The study measures association between two assessment methods but does not evaluate whether either predicts later developmental outcomes or whether interventions based on these assessments improve outcomes.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Motor milestone attainment is used in developmental surveillance of preterm infants, yet it has limited sensitivity for detecting subtle motor difficulties. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between movement quality and motor milestone attainment in preterm infants and compared early motor behaviors between moderate-to-late preterm and extremely-to-very preterm infants. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, 90 preterm infants were assessed at corrected ages of 8, 12, and 18 months. Movement quality was evaluated using the Infant Motor Profile (IMP), and motor milestone attainment was assessed using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS). Associations between IMP scores and AIMS scores were examined using Spearman's correlation coefficients. Group differences were analyzed using the linear regression model. RESULTS: At corrected ages of 8 and 18 months, IMP scores (except symmetry) were significantly positively correlated with AIMS scores (ρ = 0.23-0.90, all p < 0.05). In contrast, at 12 months, adaptability and total IMP scores were significantly negatively correlated with AIMS scores (ρ = -0.57 and - 0.26; both p < 0.05). Extremely-to-very preterm infants (n = 23) demonstrated significantly lower total IMP and adaptability scores at 8 months, lower AIMS score at 12 months, and lower total IMP, adaptability, fluency, and AIMS scores at 18 months compared with moderate-to-late preterm infants (n = 67) (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Movement quality assessment captures motor characteristics not fully reflected by milestone attainment and differentiates preterm subgroups earlier. Incorporating movement quality measures may improve early identification of subtle motor difficulties and guide timely intervention.