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Introduction: Long-term outcomes linked to preterm (PT) births have generally found an increased amount of neuromotor-developmental delays and/or disabilities. Few studies have addressed how upper-limb kinematics associates with brain volumes and myelination. This study aimed to investigate such possible relationships within children born PT compared with term-born controls at early school age, in relation to gestational age (GA) and birth-weight (BW).

Material and methods: This sub-study, part of a multidisciplinary project exploring long-term effects of PT births, included 27 children (Mean age= 8.2y) born PT (Mean GA= 32-weeks, range 22-35), and 33 age-matched born term. Kinematics of task-specific head and bi-/uni-manual upper-limb-movements was measured by a 3D-registration system (ProReflex). Brain volumes and myelin content were investigated by a 3-Tesla, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-scanner with a 7-min Synthetic MRI (SyMRI) acquisition-sequence.

Results: Significantly (p < .05) less efficient upper-limb kinematics with more segmented and longer movement paths was found in PT-born compared with term-born, particularly evident for those extremely-/very PT-born (<32 GA). Smaller total brain volumes and regional white-matter reduction with less myelin were significantly correlated with more segmented and longer arm- and head-trajectories, and with lower GA and BW.

Discussion-conclusion: The present findings show that an extremely- and very-PT-birth may cause long-term effects on neuromotor-mechanisms involved in goal-directed movements and that these effects are associated with generally delayed brain development and myelination. Additionally, SyMRI stands out as a suitable and cost-effective method for longitudinal/follow-up of brain development and changes, reducing distress in children due to a decreased scan time.