Effect of Biological Risk Factors and Home Environment on Motor Development in Early Child-Hood

Background: The assessment of the motor domain of childhood development is of paramount importance as the motor milestones are often the earliest milestones to emerge in an infant’s life and are easily noted by the parents and other caregivers. Objectives: To evaluate the association between biological risk factors, home affordances, and infant motor development. Methodology: A total of 460 infants in the age group of 3-18 months were enrolled in the study from the immunization setting of District Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab. Gross motor and fine motor assessment of infant development were done using Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and Affordances in Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS) tool were used to evaluate the home affordances and socio-economic status was evaluated from family income, class, and education status of parents. Results: Most of the study subjects 426 (92.6%) were born at term gestation whereas 34 (7.3%) were born preterm. The majority of subjects had a mean birth weight (2.9kg ± 0.387). Also, out of a total of 460 subjects 259 (56.3%) were male and 201(43.7%) were female. Typical biological risk factors like gestation and birth weight are highly associated with motor development similarly some home environment factors like availability of space, parental interaction, and motor toys significantly affect infant motor development. Conclusion: Biological risk factors significantly influence an infant’s motor development, similarly the home environment plays a key role to improve motor development that could be modified to meet the requirement of infants with high biological risk factors.