Quality of Spontaneous General Movements in Full-Term Small for Gestational Age and Appropriate for Gestational Age Newborn Infants

Abstract

Quality of spontaneous movements was studied in 15 healthy full-term appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and in 15 full-term small-for gestational age (SGA) newborn infants. All general movements with a minimal duration of 20 seconds were judged on different aspects of movement quality. From the general movements in each group (AGA: n = 106; SGA: n = 187), dominant patterns were isolated. In the AGA Group 3 dominant patterns of general movements were present. In the SGA Group 5 dominant patterns of general movements were found. Three of those were identical to the movement patterns in the AGA group, the remaining two patterns were unique for the SGA infants. Our results indicate that the three different types of general movements which constitute the major part of the normal repertoire of healthy full-term infants can be used as a reference for normal spontaneous motor behaviour. The two different types of general movements in the SGA infants might be used to discriminate between healthy and neurologically suspect newborn infants. The difference in movement pattern between AGA and SGA infants might be explained by the effect of intrauterine malnutrition on CNS development.

Intrauterine growth retardation, general movements, and neurodevelopmental outcome: a review

“…'Chaotic' GMs are also frequently observed in infants with growth retardation, but have not been reported in growthretarded foetuses. In term SGA infants, the qualitative assessment of movement patterns reveals an increased incidence of jerky and tremulous movements 32 . In preterm SGA infants, the presence of this abnormal movement type is related to late foetal heart-rate decelerations and ischaemic alterations of the placenta 13 .…”

Recém-nascido pequeno para a idade gestacional: repercussão nas habilidades motoras finas

“…In some studies, newborns with risk factors for developmental abnormalities were included; in others, preterm SGA newborns were selected. Moreover, a variety of developmental characteristics and assessment at different ages were investigated (33) .…”

“…Future research should be directed to evaluate other facets, such as quality and frequency of arm movement. Fourth, there are conflicting results in the literature regarding neurodevelopment of infants exposed to intrauterine malnutrition (33) because of the heterogeneity of the groups studied (inclusion of premature newborns), different assessment instruments and the duration of the follow-up period.…”

Neonatal General Movements

“…7,[10][11][12][13] Only a few studies in the literature deal with the relationship between general movements and neurodevelopmental outcome in intrauterine growth retardation. 12,[23][24][25][26] A study on intrauterine growth retarded fetuses and infants looked at the general movement quality in the prenatal and postnatal periods and found that when intrauterine growth retardation was uncomplicated, there was no adverse effect on the general movement quality. 26 Postnatally, similar prenatal general movement quality correlated with a normal outcome at 1 year of age.…”