Detecting motor abnormalities in preterm infants

As a consequence of the fragility of various neural structures, preterm inf ants born at a low gestation and/or birthweight are at an increased risk of developing motor abnormalities. The lack of a reliable means of assessing motor integrity prevents early therapeutic intervention. In this paper, we propose a new method of assessing neonatal motor performance, namely the re cording and subsequent analysis of intraoral sucking pressures generated wh en feeding nutritively. By measuring the infant's control of sucking in ter ms of a new development of tau theory, normal patterns of intraoral motor c ontrol were established for term infants. Using this same measure, the pres ent study revealed irregularities in sucking control of preterm infants. Wh en these findings were compared to a physiotherapist's assessment six month s later, the preterm infants who sucked irregularly were found to be delaye d in their motor development. Perhaps a goal-directed behaviour such as suc king control that can be measured objectively at a very young age, could be included as part of the neurological assessment of the preterm infant. Mor e accurate classification of a preterm infant's movement abnormalities woul d allow for early therapeutic interventions to be realised when the infant is still acquiring the most basic of motor functions. (C) Springer-Verlag 2 000.