The prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of undetected developmental delay in preschool-aged children in the northwest of Iran: a population - based study

ABSTRACT

New estimates indicate that many children in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of developmental delay (DD). This study aimed to assess the prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of undetected DD, and mean developmental scores (MDS) in preschool-aged children in the northwest of Iran. This study was conducted on 615 children aged 36–60 months. For the early detection of DD, the Persian version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) was used for face-to-face interviews with mothers. Our findings showed that the prevalence of DD was 13.98% (1.63% in communication, 2.28% in gross motor skills, 3.41% in fine motor, 2.67% in problem-solving and 3.58% in social-personal domains). Multivariate analyses showed that DD was higher in preterm children, single-child families, and the second SES quantile. Due to the high prevalence of DD and the importance of early identification and intervention, it is necessary to diagnose DD at early ages.

KEYWORDS:

• Child
• developmental delay
• age and stage questionnaire
• prevalence
• Iran

Acknowledgment

We thank the executive support of the Tehran University of Medial Science (TUMS). We also acknowledge all the family physicians that helped in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services [grant number 2017-05-61-36088].

Notes on contributors

Marjan Hosseinpour

Marjan Hosseinpour has been graduated as MSc of Epidemiology since 2015. She is working as researcher in Maternal and Childhood Obesity Research Center, and as lecturer in Nursing Department of Miandoab, Urmia University of Medical Sciences. Her research interest is children and maternal health.

Mohammad Esmaeilpour Aghdam

Mohammad Esmaeilpour Aghdam has been graduated as Bachelor of public health and MSc of Health education. He is working as family Health provider in Shahin Dezh health centre, Urmia University of Medical Sciences since 10 years ago. His research interest is family health.

Farzad Maleki

Farzad Maleki has been graduated as MSc of Epidemiology since 2016. He is working as researcher in Department of Epidemiology, Tehran University of Medical Science and Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, and as lecturer in Nursing Department of Miandoab, Urmia University of Medical Sciences. His research interest is social determinants of health.