1Pediatrics,
2Associate Professor,
3
4Principal & Professor,
Prematurity as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) is a baby born before 37 weeks of gestation counting from the first day of the last menstrual period. Infants born at early gestational ages (<32 weeks), when compared with later ages (32–36) weeks scored lower on tests of gross motor development. So mild abnormalities detected in first few months would improve with early intervention programme.
The preterm infants born before 37 gestational weeks and having APGAR score above 7 (after 5 minutes) were randomly selected and divided into two groups (N=15). Early developmental intervention programme was given to one group and home intervention programme was given to other group (control group). The outcome measure was Gross Motor Function Measure.
According to the need of the study unpaired t-test was applied and significant improvement was seen.
Greater improvement in motor performance of preterm infants who received the early intervention programme when compared with home intervention was revealed.
Preterm, Motor Development, Gross Motor Function Measure, Motor Delay, Early intervention, Home intervention