OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the motor performance of premature neonates using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) and to investigate the influence of birth weight on motor acquisition. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out of a prospective cohort of 44 premature newborn infants with gestational ages from 32 to 34 weeks, without neurological disorders, selected from the neonatal intensive care unit at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica's Hospital São Lucas in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The neonates studied were stratified by birth weight and assessed using the AIMS scale at the 40th week of postconceptional age, and at 4 and 8 months of corrected age. RESULTS: The preterm infants studied exhibited a progressive sequence of motor ability acquisition in all of the positions tested (prone, supine, sitting, standing), which occurred variable manner, expressed by the mean percentile of 43.2 to 45.7%, but within the limits of normality defined by the AIMS. It was observed that there was a clear increase in AIMS scores from the first to the last of the three postnatal observation points. The rate at which these scores increased was similar for both groups, irrespective of birth weight category (<1,750 g or ³1,750 g). CONCLUSIONS: The motor performance of the sample of premature infants studied here was normal according to the AIMS and their scores on that scale were not influenced by birth weight.
Child development; premature infants; birth weight
