Concurrent validity of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale to detect delayed gross motor development in preterm infants: A comparative study with the Bayley III

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the concurrent validity of AIMS in relation to the gross motor subtest of the Bayley Scale III/GM in preterm infants. Methods: A total of 159 gross motor development assessments were performed with the AIMS and Bayley-III/GM. Linear regression was used to assess the correlation between AIMS and Bayley-III/GM scores. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the Bland-Altman plot were used to analyze intra- and inter-rater reliability. Results: There was a prevalence of delayed gross motor development of 20.8% according to the Bayley-III/GM, and 11.9% for the 5th percentile and 21.4% for the 10th percentile of AIMS. A good correlation of AIMS with Bayley-III/GM scores and intra- and inter-rater reliability was encountered in this study. Conclusion: AIMS proved very capable of detecting delayed gross motor development in preterm infants when compared with the Bayley-III/GM. The 10th percentile of AIMS provided the best combination of indicators, with greater specificity.

KEYWORDS:

• Alberta infant motor scale Child development
• developmental assessment
• premature infant

Funding

We would like to express our thanks to the National Council for Research and Development (CNPq) for providing a Research Grant for Marilia Lima, Ana Paula Gontijo, Claudia Guerra and Viviane Menelau.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to express our thanks to the National Council for Research and Development (CNPq) for providing a Research Grant for Marilia Lima, Ana Paula Gontijo, Claudia Guerra and Viviane Menelau.