Effects of Massage Therapy on the Development of Babies Born with Down Syndrome

Table 1

Pretest, demographic, and clinical characteristics of babies.

Variable	Control group n = 16	Experimental group n = 16	value
Chronological age (days)	136.00 (124.50–206.75)	141.00 (124.00–162.75)	0.836^a
Gender, n (%)
Boys	11 (68.7%)	10 (62.59%)	0.710^b
Girls	5 (31.3%)	6 (37.5%)
Siblings, n (%)
No	8 (50.0%)	7 (43.7%)	0.723^b
Yes	8 (50.0%)	9 (56.3%)
Interviewed parents, n (%)
Father	2 (12.5%)	2 (12.5%)	0.700^c
Mother	14 (87.5%)	14 (87.5%)
Age of pretest global development, median (IQR)	75.00 (57.75–138.00)	82.50 (66.75–106.50)	0.669^a
Age of pretest motor development, median (IQR)	75.00 (60.00–146.25)	75.00 (62.50–107.50)	0.985^a
Age of pretest visual-motor coordination development, median (IQR)	85.00 (50.00–137.50)	89.00 (80.00–111.00)	0.564^a
Age of pretest language development, median (IQR)	60.00 (60.00–146.25)	97.50 (60.00–116.25)	0.669^a
Age of pretest social development, median (IQR)	70.00 (48.75–137.50)	70.00 (60.00–90.00)	0.926^a
Quotient of pretest global development, mean (SD)	57.67 (16.82)	57.35 (11.42)	0.949^d
Quotient of pretest motor development, mean (SD)	58.95 (16.66)	54.92 (12.32)	0.443^d
Quotient of pretest visual-motor coordination development, mean (SD)	57.68 (18.57)	62.61 (11.47)	0.375^e
Quotient of pretest language development, mean (SD)	56.96 (17.19)	59.65 (15.32)	0.664^d
Quotient of pretest social development, mean (SD)	55.86 (18.97)	50.10 (12.42)	0.318^d

^aMann–Whitney U test was used. ^bPearson’s chi-square test was used. ^cFisher’s exact test was used. ^dStudent’s t-test was used for independent samples. ^eWelch’s t-test was used. IQR: interquartile range.