Background
This study analyzed the motor development and suspected developmental coordination disorder of very and moderately preterm (< 34+0 gestational age), late preterm (34+0–36+6 gestational week), and early-term (37+0–38+6 gestational week) children compared to their full-term peers with a national population-based sample in China.
Methods
A total of 1673 children (799 girls, 874 boys) aged 3–10 years old were individually assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-second edition (MABC-2). The association between gestational age and motor performance of children was analyzed using a multilevel regression model.
Results
The global motor performance [β = – 5.111, 95% confidence interval (CI) = – 9.200 to – 1.022; P = 0.015] and balance (β = – 5.182, 95% CI = – 5.055 to – 1.158; P = 0.003) for very and moderately preterm children aged 3–6 years old were significantly lower than their full-term peers when adjusting for confounders. Late preterm and early-term children showed no difference. Moreover, very and moderately preterm children aged 3–6 years had a higher risk of suspected developmental coordination disorder (DCD) (≤ 5 percentile of MABC-2 score) when adjusting for potential confounders [odds ratio (OR) = 2.931, 95% CI = 1.067–8.054; P = 0.038]. Late preterm and early-term children showed no difference in motor performance from their full-term peers (each P > 0.05).
Conclusions
Our findings have important implications for understanding motor impairment in children born at different gestational ages. Very and moderately preterm preschoolers have an increased risk of DCD, and long-term follow-up should be provided for early detection and intervention.
IntroductionExcessive screen exposure (ESE) is a growing global public health concern. This study aims to investigate the potential association between ESE and suspected developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in Chinese pre-schoolers, with or without siblings.MethodA retrospective cohort study was conducted, involving 126,433 children from 551 cities in China. The Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (LDCDQ) was employed to evaluate motor impairment in children, while parents provided information on their children’s screen time in the past year. A mixed and multi-level logistic regression model was used to analyze the associations of all screen exposure measurements from the past year with LDCDQ scores and the risk of suspected DCD.ResultsThe prevalence of excessive screen exposure was 67.6% (>1 h per day) and 28.9% (>2 h per day) in Chinese pre-schoolers. One hour’s increase in weekday daily screen time, weekend daily screen time, and screen time before sleep in the past year was associated with a decreased total score of the LDCDQ (β were −0.690, −0.398, and −1.587, p < 0.001) and an increased risk of suspected DCD by 15.3%, 9.1%, and 46.8% when adjusting for the child, family and maternal health characteristics. Excessive screen exposure decreased the total LDCDQ scores by 1.335 (>1 vs. ≤1 h) and 1.162 (>2 vs. ≤2 h) and increased risks of suspected DCD by 44.0% (>1 vs. ≤1 h) and 31.1% (>2 vs. ≤2 h) with statistical significance (each p < 0.05). The stratified analysis showed that the association between screen time and LDCDQ score was stronger in children without siblings than in those with siblings.ConclusionThe risk of suspected DCD was highest for screen time exposure before bed compared with average weekday and weekend exposures. Parents should be advised to prevent their children from using electronic screens unsupervised, especially in one-child families.
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