Walking onset: a poor predictor for motor and cognitive skills in healthy preschool children

Nadine Messerli-Bürgy; Tanja H Kakebeeke; Andrea H Meyer; Amar Arhab; Annina E Zysset; Kerstin Stülb; Claudia S Leeger-Aschmann; Einat A Schmutz; Susi Kriemler; Jardena J Puder; Simone Munsch; Oskar G Jenni

doi:10.1186/s12887-021-02828-4

Walking onset: a poor predictor for motor and cognitive skills in healthy preschool children

BMC Pediatr. 2021 Aug 27;21(1):367. doi: 10.1186/s12887-021-02828-4.

Authors

Nadine Messerli-Bürgy^#^{1

2}, Tanja H Kakebeeke^#^{3

4}, Andrea H Meyer^{5

6}, Amar Arhab⁷, Annina E Zysset³, Kerstin Stülb⁵, Claudia S Leeger-Aschmann⁸, Einat A Schmutz⁸, Susi Kriemler^#⁸, Jardena J Puder^#⁷, Simone Munsch^#⁵, Oskar G Jenni^#^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. nadine.messerli@unifr.ch.
² Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. nadine.messerli@unifr.ch.
³ Child Development Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Children's Research Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
⁶ Department for Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁷ Obstetric Service, Department Woman-Mother-Child, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁸ Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: The onset of walking is thought to be an indicator of early development. However, evidence is mixed and clear data on this relationship at preschool age is missing. The study aimed at investigating if walking onset and motor and cognitive development in preschool children are related.

Methods: A total of 555 children (mean age 3.86 years) of the Swiss Preschoolers' Health Study SPLASHY were tested twice at their childcare center (at baseline and one year later). Motor skills and cognitive skills were assessed by standardized testing procedures and parents were asked to provide information on walking onset of their child.

Results: Late onset of walking was related to poorer motor skills (fine motor skills, static and dynamic balance (all p < 0.003)) and poorer cognitive skills (selective attention and visual perception (p = 0.02; p = 0.001) in late preschool age.

Conclusions: For children with late walking onset a close monitoring of their development in the regular pediatric child health visits may be reasonable.

Trial registration: ISRCTN41045021 .

Keywords: Cognition; Development; Onset of walking; Preschool; SPLASHY.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child
Child Day Care Centers
Child Health
Child, Preschool
Cognition
Humans
Motor Skills*
Walking*