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The Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) in very low birth weight infants and outcome at two years of age

Journal of Perinatology volume 41, pages 2432–2441 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate TIMP in preterm very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, analyze risk factors, for atypical TIMP (aTIMP) scores, and explore TIMP’s predictive relationship with Bayley-III at 2 years.

Method

A prospective study of 288 VLBW infants, with TIMP assessment between 34 weeks postmenstrual age and 16 weeks age, corrected for prematurity.

Result

aTIMP scores were observed in 58/288(20%) infants, whose mean birth weight (BW) and gestational age were 1122 ± 257 g and 29.2 ± 2.12 weeks respectively. Risk factors included BW < 750 g (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.3–17.7) and 750–1000 g (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2–6.9), presence of necrotizing enterocolitis ≥ stage 2; or focal intestinal perforation (OR 4.6, 95% CI 1.4–14.4), periventricular leukomalacia (OR 22.4,95% CI 2.0–246.2), and need for intensive resuscitation at birth (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3–5.5).

aTIMP scores correlated with Bayley-III Score <85 in motor and cognitive domains with high specificity (80–82%) and negative predictive value (85–94%).

Conclusion

Identification of the risk factors for aTIMP scores will enable targeted intervention to optimize resources and outcomes in VLBW infants.

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Fig. 1: Cohort Profile of the VLBW infants recruited for the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Development, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    Anitha Madayi, Lourdes Mary Daniel & Pratibha Keshav Agarwal

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Singapore Clinical Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore

    Luming Shi & Yanan Zhu

  3. Duke NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Luming Shi

  4. Department of Physiotherapy, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    Asila Alia Noordin & Shelly Anne Marie Sherwood

  5. Department of Neonatology, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    Victor Samuel Rajadurai, Poh Choo Khoo & Bin Huey Quek

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  1. Anitha Madayi
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  2. Luming Shi
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  3. Yanan Zhu
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  4. Lourdes Mary Daniel
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Correspondence to Lourdes Mary Daniel.

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Madayi, A., Shi, L., Zhu, Y. et al. The Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) in very low birth weight infants and outcome at two years of age. J Perinatol 41, 2432–2441 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01067-w

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