Background: This study analyzed the motor development and suspected developmental coordination disorder of very and moderately preterm (< 34⁺⁰ gestational age), late preterm (34⁺⁰ –36⁺⁶ gestational week), and early-term (37⁺⁰ –38⁺⁶ gestational week) children compared to their full-term peers with a national population-based sample in China.

Methods: A total of 1673 children (799 girls, 874 boys) aged 3–10 years old were individually assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-second edition (MABC-2). The association between gestational age and motor performance of children was analyzed using a multilevel regression model.

Results: The global motor performance [β = – 5.111, 95% confidence interval (CI) = – 9.200 to – 1.022; P = 0.015] and balance (β = – 5.182, 95% CI = – 5.055 to – 1.158; P = 0.003) for very and moderately preterm children aged 3–6 years old were significantly lower than their full-term peers when adjusting for confounders. Late preterm and early-term children showed no difference. Moreover, very and moderately preterm children aged 3–6 years had a higher risk of suspected developmental coordination disorder (DCD) (≤ 5 percentile of MABC-2 score) when adjusting for potential confounders [odds

ratio (OR) = 2.931, 95% CI = 1.067–8.054; P = 0.038]. Late preterm and early-term children showed no difference in motor performance from their full-term peers (each P > 0.05).