Motor performance and behaviour in preterm and full-term 3-year-old children.

Aim: To compare the motor performance and behaviour at 3 years of age of very preterm, moderately preterm and full-term children (n = 221), who needed neonatal intensive care (NIC), and of 72 neonatally healthy full-term children (reference group).

Method: A model for combined assessment of motor performance and behaviour (CAMPB) was used. The children's performance was assessed on the basis of observations and documentation of categories of co-ordination, attention and social behaviour included in CAMPB.

Results: Significantly more very preterm children showed deviations in co-ordination than children in the other groups, and this difference was most evident in comparison with the reference group. No differences were found between the groups regarding attention and social behaviour during the assessment.

Conclusion: Very preterm children differ from moderately preterm and full-term children in their motor performance at 3 years of age. By means of CAMPB, individual children with pronounced incoordination were identified in all groups, and some of them also showed pronounced lack of attention.