Visual Performance and Perceptual–Motor Skills of Late Preterm Children and Healthy Controls Using the TVPS-3rd and VMI-6th Editions

• Published in: Technologies (Basel) 2023-04, Vol.11 (2), p.53
• Main Authors: Ibrahimi, Danjela, Mendiola Santibañez, Jorge D, Rodríguez-Reséndiz, Juvenal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Brain research; Cesarean section; Child development; Children & youth; Comparative analysis; full term birth; Function tests (Medicine); Gestational age; Health care; Infants (Premature); late preterm birth; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Motor ability; Phoria; Physiological aspects; Premature birth; Public health; Strabismus; Testing; Visual acuity; visual efficacy; Visual perception; visual–motor abilities; visual–perceptual skills
• ISSN: 2227-7080; 2227-7080
• DOI: 10.3390/technologies11020053

Background: The visual system is key to the learning process, preterm births are commonly followed by visual dysfunctions and other neurological conditions. Objective: to measure, analyze and compare the visual efficacy, visual–perceptual, and visual–motor skills of 20 late preterm children (34–36 weeks) born by caesarean section and appropriate weight for gestational age with 20 healthy controls born at full term by natural birth, age 5 to 12 years, from Querétaro, México. Methods: This was an observational, transverse, and prospective study. Parametric and non-parametric tests were performed using the SPSS 25.0. The visual acuity at distance and near, the phoria state, and the degree of stereopsis were analyzed. The Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills, Third Edition, was used to assess the overall performance, basic, sequencing, and complex processes. Fine motor skills were evaluated using the Visual–Motor Integration Test of Beery, Sixth Edition. Results: Visual acuity at distance and near (p