COMPARISON OF ANTHROPOMETRIC INDICATORS, IQ, AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT LOW BIRTH WEIGHT

Background & Aims: Birth weight is an important indicator of child health that affects various aspects of physical and cognitive development. This study aimed to compare the anthropometric indicators, IQ, and motor development in preschool children with and without low birth weight. Materials & Methods: The type of this research is comparative.The population consisted of preschool children in Marivan city. Among kindergartens in Marivan city, 37 children with natural birth weight (above 2500 g) and 37 children with low birth weight (below 2500 g) were selected purposefully. In two groups, children with low birth weight and children with normal birth weight were included. To evaluate the development of gross and fine motor skills, the short version of the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency was used and also the Wechsler-4 Intelligence Scale was used to measure the IQ of participants. Meter and balance tools were utilized to measure anthropometric indices. Results: The data were analyzed using independent t-test, multivariate analysis of variance, and one way ANOVA in MANOVA text (significance level of 0/0001). The results showed significant differences in anthropometric, IQ, coarse and delicate skills between two groups. Children with normal birth weight showed higher performance in these indices. Conclusion: The results showed significant differences in anthropometric indicators, IQ, and motor development among preschool children with and without low birth weight there.