The main goal of the present study was to review studies that associate low birth weight and motor proficiency in children aged 1 to 10 years. An electronic database and reference lists of the published papers were used for collecting articles and a systematic review of the literature was done. The following keywords were used: "infant low birth weight", "infant very low birth weight", "infant extremely low birth weight", "motor skills", "psychomotor performance", "child development", "human development", "growth & development", "growth" and "fetal development". Study analysis included reading the titles, abstracts and manuscripts. Of a total of 18 papers, only two had a longitudinal design while 16 had a cross-sectional design. The children were aged between 9 months and 9 years. Motor development was assessed by using standardized instruments for assessing fine and gross motor skills in a quantitative way. The studies showed that low birth weight children (weighing less than 2,500g) have some type of motor deficit. The most affected skills were fine motor skills and balance. Birth weight should be considered an important variable in studies on the development of basic motor skills in children.
Growth and development; Child; Motor skill; Birth weight