Asymmetry and infants born preterm

Abstract

The main aim of the thesis was to contribute to the diagnostic process and clinical decision making by pediatric physiotherapists in very young infants with an atypical motor performance, influenced by both an asymmetric development, and a development according to a preterm birth. In Part I, the development of a differential diagnostic screening instrument, containing a classification scheme, the clinical diagnostic criteria (CDC) for differential diagnostics, and a list of ‘red flags’ is described, on the basis of literature search and expert consensus.In two Delphi rounds, six medical specialists and seven pediatric physiotherapists were polled anonymously on the classification, completeness, and relevance of the diagnoses and the CDC. In Round 3, a face-to-face meeting with eight therapists, the previously selected diagnoses and CDC were prioritised, reduced to ten diagnoses and 21 CDC, and completed with eight hard clinical signs (red flags). In Part II, contains two descriptive studies on idiopathic asymmetry in infants born very preterm, a retrospective and subsequently a prospective study. To describe the natural course of a positional preference of the head and deformational plagiocephaly (DP) up to 6 months corrected age (CA) in infants born with a gestational age