Periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage (PIVH) is a common and serious complication in preterm infants, significantly increasing the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether early intervention programs guided by the General Movement Optimality Score (GMOS), the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2 (PDMS-2), or their combination, are associated with superior motor development in preterm infants with PIVH compared to standard care. In this prospective, stratified, randomized controlled trial, 103 preterm infants (gestational age 0.05). While no significant differences were observed at CA 3 months, the GMOS + PDMS-2 group demonstrated a significantly higher FMQ than the Control group at CA 6 months (median difference: 7.5 points, p = 0.006). By CA 12 months, significant differences emerged among the groups (p 0.21). The GMOS + PDMS-2 group significantly outperformed both the Control group (FMQ median difference: 11.5 points; GMQ: 9.0 points; p < 0.001) and the GMOS-only group (FMQ: 9.0 points; GMQ: 7.0 points; p < 0.001). A combined early intervention strategy, dynamically guided by both GMOS and PDMS-2, is associated with significantly superior motor outcomes at 12 months CA in preterm infants with mild PIVH compared to standard care or interventions guided by either tool alone, suggesting that this combined approach may represent a promising model for optimizing early motor outcomes at 12 months CA in this high-risk population.
Ren et al. (Mon,) studied this question.