NPOG 2009 Abstract template

Foredragsholder / Presenter

Navn / Name: Susanne Lindqvist

Institusjon/Institution: NTNU

Avdeling / Department: Dept of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Medical Faculty

Gate / Street: Teglbrennerveien 84

Post nr. / zip code: 7013 Trondheim

Land / Country: Norge

Medforfattere / Co-authors:

Navn / Name: Kari Anne Indredavik Evensen

Institution: NTNU

Avdeling / Department: Dept of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Medical Faculty

Navn / Name: Siri Kulseng

Institution: St. Olavs Hospital

Avdeling / Department: Pæditaric Department

Navn / Name: Marit Indredavik

Institution: NTNU

Avdeling / Department: Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine

Navn / Name: Ann-Mari Brubakk

Institution: NTNU

Avdeling / Department: Dept of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Medical Faculty

Navn / Name: Torstein Vik

Institution: NTNU

Avdeling / Department: Dept of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Medical Faculty

Vision and perception influence motor skills in low birth weight adolescents

Background
Motor problems have been frequently reported in low birth weight populations, and may be related to visual and perceptive deficits.

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of vision and perception on motor skills in adolescents with low birth weight without cerebral palsy (CP).

Methods
Fifty-one very low birth weight adolescents (VLBW: birth weight ≤1500g), 57 term small for gestational age (SGA: birth weight <10 th centile) and 77 term control adolescents (birth weight ≥10 th centile) without CP were examined by the age of 14.

We performed regression analyses with the total score of the Movement Assessement Battery for Children (Movement ABC) as the outcome variable and visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, strabismus, stereopsis and the Visual Perception supplementary task of the Visuo-Motor Integration test, as independent variables. The independent variables were entered separately in a logistic regression model.

Results
The risk of motor problems in the VLBW group was significantly increased by poor contrast sensitivity, poor stereopsis and poor visual acuity.

In the SGA group the risk of motor problems was increased by a low score on the Visual Perception task.

None of these variables were associated with motor problems in the control group.

Conclusions

The results suggest that visual deficits are important factors in explaining motor problems in VLBW and SGA adolescents.