COMPARAÇÃO ENTRE O DESENVOLVIMENTO MOTOR DE BEBÊS PRÉ-TERMO DE DUAS REGIÕES DO BRASIL.

The child's motor development is the result of biological influences as well as the physical and social environments and living. This interaction can encourage or limit the motor skills. The aim was to investigate the influence of cultural and socioeconomic differences of two Brazilian regions have on the motor development of infants preterm in the first year of life. Cross-sectional study comparison groups. The study included 429 premature infants of both sexes, selected in two Brazilian states and divided into two samples: babies born in Rio Grande do Sul (Southern Brazil) and babies born to Goiás (Midwest of Brazil). The development of babies was assessed by Alberta Infant Motor Scale in newborn age (RN) to 12 months and the results were compared according to age groups: newborn to 6 months and 7-12 months of chronological age corrected. As for the characterization of samples, significant differences were found between the groups only in the variables birth weight, head circumference, length of stay, maternal age and family income, with the southern group in Brazil featuring superior result. In relation to engine performance, the groups presented differences only in the age group of newborn to 6 months, the babies of the Midwest featuring latest findings in the overall score and in prone and sitting positions. Infants of Brazil's Midwest region had more delayed motor development than babies of southern Brazil, which may have been influenced by lower results in neonatal variables of birth weight and head circumference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]