Predictors of low perceptual-motor skills in children at 4-5 years of age

this is a cross-sectional study nested in a birth cohort involving mother-child pairs. The children’s perceptual-motor skills were assessed individually in their homes when they were 4-5 years old using the Pre-Literacy Skills and Knowledge Test (THCP^®), a vali-dated Brazilian instrument. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between cognitive perceptual-motor skills and potential maternal and child risk factors.

Results:

of the 199 children included in the study, 53.8% were boys, 90.8% attended school, and 91.1% were enrolled in a public school. Among the children, 114 (57.3%), 41 (20.6%) and 44 (22.1%) had low, moderate and high perceptual-motor skills, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed greater odds of children at preschool age having low perceptual motor skills for boys (OR=2.10; CI95%= 1.14-3.88), children who did not attend school (OR=4.61; CI95%= 1.21-17.49), and those with a household income <5 minimum wages (MW) (OR=4.28; CI95%= 1.49-12.26).

Conclusions:

our study showed that male gender, not attending school and a monthly household income <5 MW were predictors of low perceptual-motor skills in children at 4-5 years of age.

Key words:
Perceptual-motor skill; Cognitive development; Cognitive skill; Pre-school age; Motor skill

Variables	Perceptual-motor skills (n = 199)						p
	Low		Moderate/High		Total
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Children
Gender							0.054
Female	46	50.0	46	50.0	92	46.2
Male	68	63.6	39	36.4	107	53.8
Duration of breast-feeding (months)							0.417
≥ 6	40	60.6	26	39.4	66	33.5
≥ 4 and < 6	41	59.4	28	40.6	69	35.0
< 4	31	50.0	31	50.0	62	31.5
Feeding practice							0.687
Exclusive breast-feeding	41	60.3	27	39.7	68	34.5
Non-exclusive breast-feeding	63	54.3	53	45.7	116	58.9
Artificial feeding	8	61.5	5	38.5	13	6.6
Child's BMI (percentile)							0.592
≤ 85^th	78	56.9	59	43.1	137	69.5
> 85^th and < 97^th	22	52.4	20	47.6	42	21.3
≥ 97^th	12	66.7	6	33.3	18	9.2
Attending school							0.023
Yes	97	54.2	82	45.8	179	90.8
No	15	83.3	3	16.7	18	9.2
Type of school							0.054
Private	5	31.3	11	68.8	16	8.9
Public	92	56.4	71	43.6	163	91.1
Child stimulus							0.722
Yes	90	56.3	70	43.8	160	81.2
No	22	59.5	15	40.5	37	18.8
Mothers
Mother's age (years)							0.231
≥ 40	10	43.5	13	56.5	23	11.7
30 - 40	43	54.4	36	37.9	95	48.2
< 30	59	62.1	36	37.9	79	40.1
Marital status							0.350
Marriage/consensual union	75	45.2	91	54.8	166	85.6
Other	10	35.7	18	64.3	28	14.4
Working							0.301
No	50	47.2	56	52.8	106	54.6
Yes	35	39.8	53	60.2	88	45.4
Mother's education (years)							<0.001
≥ 12	31	37.3	52	62.7	83	42.8
9 - 12	46	70.8	19	29.2	65	33.5
< 9	32	69.6	14	30.4	46	23.7
Monthly household income (MW)							0.007
≥5	6	26.1	17	73.9	23	11.9
3 - 5	32	57.1	24	42.9	56	28.9
< 3	71	61.7	44	38.3	115	59.2

Variable	Model 1 (n = 199)		Model 2 (n = 176)		Model 3 (n = 193)
Variable	OR (CI95%)	p	OR (CI95%)	p	OR (CI95%)	p
Children
Gender
Female	Reference		Reference		Reference
Male	1.74 (0.99 - 3.07)	0.054	2.11 (1.12 - 3.97)	0.021	2.10 (1.14 - 3.88)	0.018
Duration of breast-feeding (months)
≥ 6	Reference
< 6	0.79 (0.43 - 1.45)	0.451
Feeding practice
Exclusive breast-feeding	Reference
Non-exclusive breast-feeding	0.81 (0.44 - 1.46)	0.479
Child's body mass index (percentile)
≤ 85th	Reference
> 85th	0.99 (0.54 - 1.83)	0.972
Attending school
Yes	Reference				Reference
No	4.23 (1.18 - 15.11)	0.027			4.61 (1.21 - 17.49)	0.025
Type of school
Private	Reference		Reference
Public	2.85 (0.95 - 8.58)	0.062	1.97 (0.60 - 6.48)	0.266
Child stimulus
Yes	Reference
No	1.14 (0.55 - 2.36)	0.723
Mothers
Mother's age (years)
≥ 30	Reference		Reference		Reference
< 30	1.52 (0.86 - 2.67)	0.152	0.72 (0.38 - 1.38)	0.331	0.67 (0.36 - 1.22)	0.186
Marital status
Marriage/consensual union	Reference
Other	1.48 (0.65 - 3.41)	0.352
Working
No	Reference		Reference
Yes	0.74 (0.42 - 1.31)	0.302	1.07 (0.57 - 2.00)	0.930
Mother's education (years)
≥ 9	Reference		Reference		Reference
< 9	2.11 (1.04 - 4.27)	0.038	1.34 (0.61 - 2.96)	0.461	1.72 (0.80 - 3.66)	0.163
Monthly household income (MW)
≥5	Reference		Reference		Reference
< 5	4.29 (1.61 - 11.43)	0.004	5.10 (1.58 - 16.45)	0.006	4.28 (1.49 - 12.26)	0.007

Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira Rua dos Coelhos, 300. Boa Vista, 50070-550 Recife PE Brasil, Tel./Fax: +55 81 2122-4141 - Recife - PR - Brazil
E-mail: revista@imip.org.br

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[1] Author’s contribution

Santos EMM contributed to data collection, analyses, drafted and revised the manuscript. Constantino B contributed to data collection, analyses, drafted and revised the manuscript. Rocha MM drafted and revised the manuscript. Mastroeni MF conceptualized and designed the study, contributed to the statistical analysis, coordinated and supervised data collection, drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.