Influence of birthweight on childhood balance: Evidence from two British birth cohorts

Author(s)

Martins Okuda, Paola Matiko ^[1] ; Swardfager, Walter ^{[2, 3]} ; Ploubidis, George B. ^[4] ; Pangelinan, Melissa ^[5] ; Cogo-Moreira, Hugo ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Psychiat & Med Psychol, Rua Borges Lagoa 570, 7 Andar, Sala 74, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Toronto, Dept Pharmacol & Toxicol, Address 1 Kings Coll Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8 - Canada

^[3] Sunnybrook Res Inst, Hurvitz Brain Sci Program, Address 2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5 - Canada

^[4] UCL, Inst Educ, Dept Social Sci, Gordon Sq 55-59, London WC1H 0NU - England

^[5] Auburn Univ, Sch Kinesiol, 301 Wire Rd, Auburn, AL 36849 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: EARLY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT; v. 130, p. 116-120, MAR 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Background: Birthweight is an important predictor of various fundamental aspects of childhood health and development. Aim: To examine the impact of birthweight on childhood balance performance classification and verify if this is replicable and consistent in different populations. Study design: Prospective birth cohort study. Subjects: To describe heterogeneity in balance skills, latent class analyses were conducted separately with data from the 1958 National Child Development Study - NCDS (n = 12,778), and the 1970 British Cohort Study - BCS (n = 12,115). Outcome measures: Four balance tasks for NCDS and five balance tasks for BCS. Results: Birthweight was assessed as a predictor of balance skills. In both cohorts, two latent classes (good and poor balance skills) were identified. In both cohorts, higher birthweight was associated with a higher likelihood of having good balance skills. Boys were less likely to have good balance compared to girls. Conclusions: The results establish the reproducibility and consistency of the effect of birthweight on balance skills and point to early intervention for individuals with lower birthweight to mitigate the impact of motor impairment. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/04935-5 - Identifying patterns of changing on fine motor and balance skills from childhood to adolescence conditioned to perinatal measurements: applying latent transitional analysis to two British large cohort studies
• Grantee: Paola Matiko Martins Okuda
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 15/04619-0 - Psychometric analysis of two motor assessment tests Movement Assessment Batery for children, second edition - MABC-2 and Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency: applying factorial analysis, latent class and hybrids (mixture) models
• Grantee: Paola Matiko Martins Okuda
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate