Cross-sectional study examining associations between early visual behaviour (Neonatal Visual Assessment) and spontaneous motor behaviour (General Movements Assessment, Motor Optimality Score-Revised) in 84 very preterm infants (<32 weeks gestational age) without major brain injury, assessed at 12–16 weeks corrected age.
Global visual function was strongly associated with motor optimality (rs = −0.67, p < .001); visual tracking showed the strongest domain-specific associations with movement repertoire (q = 0.004) and movement patterns (q = 0.021); infants with absent fidgety movements had the poorest overall visual behaviour compared with both normal and abnormal fidgety movement groups.
Cross-sectional design prevents causal inference; the sample excludes infants with major brain injury, limiting generalisability to more severely affected preterm infants; long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes were not assessed.
When assessing very preterm infants at around 3 months corrected age, poor visual tracking and absent fidgety movements together may signal concurrent immaturity across both visual and motor systems, warranting closer developmental follow-up.
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