Evaluation of child motor development and its association with social vulnerability

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the motor development of children aged four to 17 months and investigate its association with sociodemographic risk factors. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted with clinically stable children aged four to 17 months from the pediatric inpatient unit of a public hospital in Porto Alegre, RS, and whose hospital discharge would happen soon. For the evaluation of sociodemographic risk factors, a questionnaire developed by the researchers was used which addressed biological, social and environmental factors. The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS), in its version translated, adapted and validated to Brazilian Portuguese, was used in the evaluation of motor development. In statistical analysis, Student’s t-test and Chi-square test were used with significance level of 5% (p≤0.05) for all tests. From a total of 110 evaluated children, motor performance was lower than expected in more than half of them (63.6%, n=70). Motor development presented statistically significant associations with delayed vaccines (p=0.005), cohabitation with smokers (p=0.047), and receiving socioeconomic benefits (p=0.036). In conclusion, social factors such as delayed vaccines, cohabitation with smokers and receiving socioeconomic benefits may be associated with risk factors related to motor development of children aged four months to 17 months old.