Correlations between the segmental postural control and sitting development in moderate to late preterm infants aged from 4 months until the age of independent sitting attainment

NoppharathSangkarit

Abstract

The development of self-sitting ability in preterm infants seems to take place at lateronset compared with full-term infants. The question arises how segmental postural development correlate to changes in sitting milestone. Report on correlations between the segmental postural controlandsittingabilityduringdevelopingofsittingmilestoneinhealthyhome-raisedpremature infantsisstilllimited.Theaimofthisstudywastoexaminethecorrelationbetweenthesegmental postural control and the sitting development with the series assessment from the age of 4 months correcteduntiltheageofindependentsittingattainment.Thisstudywasconductedin27moderate to late premature infants. The segmental trunk control was assessed using the Segmental AssessmentofTrunkControl,andsittingdevelopmentwasexaminedbytheAlbertaInfantMotor Scale. The correlations were analyzed using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results showed significantly high correlations between the segmental trunk control and sitting scales at 4 (r=0.658,p=0.000),5(r=0.805,p=0.000),6(r=0.761,p=0.000),and7(r=0.820,p=0.000) months corrected age. The levels of trunk control in healthy moderate to late premature infantsarecontributedtosittingdevelopmentmilestonesince4monthscorrectedageuntiltheage of their sittingattainment.