Effect of Neuro-Development Treatment on motor development in preterm infants.
Eun-Ju Lee
PMID 28626334WHAT IT FOUND
Low-birth-weight preterm infants assigned to general NICU nursing plus NDT scored higher on motor performance at post-conceptional age 40 weeks than those assigned to general NICU nursing alone.
General NICU nursing was given to all, so NDT's separate effect cannot be isolated.
Key findings
01At post-conceptional age 40 weeks, the intervention group had higher motor performance scores than the control group.
02Before treatment, the intervention and control groups had similar motor scores, and both were lower than the comparison group.
03The table lists final mean motor scores of 70.8 ± 6.5 for intervention, 56.3 ± 7.9 for comparative, and 53.8 ± 7.5 for control.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Infants were assigned to intervention or control by hospitalization order, not by random allocation. The paper does not report blinding of assessors or therapists, or dropout handling. The methods and table give inconsistent group labels and counts: methods say 30 infants were control and 34 were comparison, while the table labels 30 as comparative and 34 as control. All groups received general NICU nursing, so the study cannot separate the effect of Neuro-Developmental Treatment from general nursing. The higher-birth-weight comparison group started with higher motor scores than the low-birth-weight groups. Outcomes were measured only up to post-conceptional age 40 weeks, so longer-term development is not shown. The paper does not describe the specific Neuro-Developmental Treatment techniques, therapist qualifications, or treatment fidelity. The paper does not report whether the results apply to other NICU settings.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Neuro-Developmental Treatment alone improved motor development. All groups received general NICU nursing, and the low-birth-weight groups were assigned by hospitalization order rather than random allocation, so general nursing and time-related differences in care cannot be separated.