Motor Abilities in Adolescents Born Preterm Are Associated With Microstructure of the Corpus Callosum

Conclusions: Impairments in motor abilities are present in preterm born adolescents without major neuromotor impairment and in the absence of focal brain injury. Altered microstructure of the corpus callosum microstructure appears a crucial factor, in particular for movement quality. Introduction Very preterm birth (birth <32 weeks of gestation) is associated with high risk of impaired neurodevelopment. Rates of severe neuromotor impairment, i.e., Cerebral Palsy (CP), are decreasing, in particular in those preterm children born with moderately low and very low birth weight (1). However, in a substantial proportion of those born preterm who do not develop CP, delayed motor development, atypical neurological signs, and impaired neuromotor function is observed. This appears to occur across the preterm gestational age range and can persist throughout childhood, and there is now also some evidence that this continues into young adulthood (2–4). Often, motor difficulties co-occur with cognitive and/or behavioral difficulties (5, 6), and motor dysfunction is likely to contribute to the difficulties that are experienced at school and in social activities (7, 8), and can be associated with mental health (4). Overall, however, studies in adolescence and adulthood, are still sparse. In addition, most studies, with few exceptions (3, 9–12) have employed instruments such as the Movement Assessment Battery for Children or the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor ...
Source: Frontiers in Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research