DEVELOPMENT OF MUSCLE POWER IN PRETERM INFANTS - INDIVIDUAL TRAJECTORIES AFTER TERM AGE

In a longitudinal study individual trajectories were traced for the de veloping relationship between active and passive muscle power in prete rm (n = 37) and fullterm (n = 20) infants from term to 24 weeks (corre cted) age. Such trajectories should enable the identification of those infants at highest risk for later neurological dysfunctions. This con tention is supported by the findings of this study: those preterm infa nts who showed marked discrepancies between the two sorts of muscle po wer or rigidity in both beyond 12 weeks corrected age were most likely to manifest neurological problems at 52 weeks of age.