Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis

CONTEXTS: Preterm infants are at an increased risk of neurodevelopmental delay. Some studies report positive intervention effects on motor outcomes, but it is currently unclear which motor activities are most effective in the short and longer term. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identif...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hughes, Anita J., Redsell, Sarah A., Glazebrook, Cris
Format: Article
Published: American Academy of Pediatrics 2016
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36983/
_version_ 1848795369389948928
author Hughes, Anita J.
Redsell, Sarah A.
Glazebrook, Cris
author_facet Hughes, Anita J.
Redsell, Sarah A.
Glazebrook, Cris
author_sort Hughes, Anita J.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description CONTEXTS: Preterm infants are at an increased risk of neurodevelopmental delay. Some studies report positive intervention effects on motor outcomes, but it is currently unclear which motor activities are most effective in the short and longer term. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify interventions that improve the motor development of preterm infants. DATA SOURCES: An a priori protocol was agreed upon. Seventeen electronic databases from 1980 to April 2015 and gray literature sources were searched. STUDY SELECTION: Three reviewers screened the articles. DATA EXTRACTION: The outcome of interest was motor skills assessment scores. All data collection and risk of bias assessments were agreed upon by the 3 reviewers. RESULTS: Forty-two publications, which reported results from 36 trials (25 randomized controlled trials and 11 nonrandomized studies) with a total of 3484 infants, met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis was conducted by using standardized mean differences on 21 studies, with positive effects found at 3 months (mean 1.37; confidence interval 0.48–2.27), 6 months (0.34; 0.11–0.57), 12 months (0.73; 0.20–1.26), and 24 months (0.28; 0.07–0.49). At 3 months, there was a large and significant effect size for motor-specific interventions (2.00; 0.28–3.72) but not generic interventions (0.33; –0.03 to –0.69). Studies were not excluded on the basis of quality; therefore, heterogeneity was significant and the random-effects model was used. LIMITATIONS: Incomplete or inconsistent reporting of outcome measures limited the data available for meta-analysis beyond 24 months. CONCLUSIONS: A positive intervention effect on motor skills appears to be present up to 24 months’ corrected age. There is some evidence at 3 months that interventions with specific motor components are most effective.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:31:00Z
format Article
id nottingham-36983
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:31:00Z
publishDate 2016
publisher American Academy of Pediatrics
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-369832020-05-04T18:14:34Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36983/ Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis Hughes, Anita J. Redsell, Sarah A. Glazebrook, Cris CONTEXTS: Preterm infants are at an increased risk of neurodevelopmental delay. Some studies report positive intervention effects on motor outcomes, but it is currently unclear which motor activities are most effective in the short and longer term. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify interventions that improve the motor development of preterm infants. DATA SOURCES: An a priori protocol was agreed upon. Seventeen electronic databases from 1980 to April 2015 and gray literature sources were searched. STUDY SELECTION: Three reviewers screened the articles. DATA EXTRACTION: The outcome of interest was motor skills assessment scores. All data collection and risk of bias assessments were agreed upon by the 3 reviewers. RESULTS: Forty-two publications, which reported results from 36 trials (25 randomized controlled trials and 11 nonrandomized studies) with a total of 3484 infants, met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis was conducted by using standardized mean differences on 21 studies, with positive effects found at 3 months (mean 1.37; confidence interval 0.48–2.27), 6 months (0.34; 0.11–0.57), 12 months (0.73; 0.20–1.26), and 24 months (0.28; 0.07–0.49). At 3 months, there was a large and significant effect size for motor-specific interventions (2.00; 0.28–3.72) but not generic interventions (0.33; –0.03 to –0.69). Studies were not excluded on the basis of quality; therefore, heterogeneity was significant and the random-effects model was used. LIMITATIONS: Incomplete or inconsistent reporting of outcome measures limited the data available for meta-analysis beyond 24 months. CONCLUSIONS: A positive intervention effect on motor skills appears to be present up to 24 months’ corrected age. There is some evidence at 3 months that interventions with specific motor components are most effective. American Academy of Pediatrics 2016-10-31 Article PeerReviewed Hughes, Anita J., Redsell, Sarah A. and Glazebrook, Cris (2016) Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 138 (4). e20160147/1-e20160147/13. ISSN 1098-4275 http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/09/14/peds.2016-0147 doi:10.1542/peds.2016-0147 doi:10.1542/peds.2016-0147
spellingShingle Hughes, Anita J.
Redsell, Sarah A.
Glazebrook, Cris
Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_fullStr Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_short Motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_sort motor development interventions for preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36983/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36983/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36983/