Maternal socio-demographic and psychological predictors for risk of developmental delays among young children in Mongolia

Abstract

BackgroundFactors influencing child development are not well studied in developing settings, and especially in Mongolia. This cohort study examined the relationship between maternal socio-demographic and psychological conditions on risk of young child developmental delay.MethodsA total of 150 children aged between 13 ~ 24 months old participated in this study. The participants were randomly selected from a pre-existing cohort of 1297 children who were involved in a study on infant bilirubin nomogram development conducted at a tertiary health facility in Mongolia between 2012 and 2013. Child development was evaluated using the Mongolian Rapid Baby Scale (MORBAS), a validated scale for child development. The potential factors for child developmental delay were assessed using a pre-tested questionnaire comprising of 52 questions. Fisher’s exact test and multivariable logistic regression analysis were conducted.ResultsSeventeen (11%) out of the 150 children that participated in the study were at risk of developmental delay. There was a negative association between the risk of child developmental delay and higher maternal education (AOR 0.15, 95% CI: 0.03–0.66). Increasing maternal age (AOR 1.12, 95%CI: 0.98–1.27), maternal depression symptoms (AOR 4.93, 95%CI: 0.93–26.10), child gender being female (AOR 0.25, 95%CI: 0.06–1.00) and being from single mother household (AOR 0.14, 95%CI: 0.01–1.11) were also predictors for risk of developmental delay – although the association was marginal.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that being of underprivileged social status, and poor psychological condition of mothers in Mongolia possibly increases the risk of child developmental delays. Interventions targeting these modifiable predictors are needed to develop prevention strategies for child developmental delay.

Selected Risk Factors of Developmental Delay in Polish Infants: A Case-Control Study

“…The present study assessed selected risk factors of DD in infants with the results mostly supporting previous findings from other countries, both in the European region and outside of Europe, and reinforcing the multiple etiology of DD [1,2,4,9,15,18,19,27,32]. Preventive strategies regarding DD in Polish infants should focus on the pre-, peri- and postnatal risk factors identified in this study.…”

“…The risk factors for DD include maternal and infant biological, psychosocial (individual and familial), and environmental factors. In the period before birth, such factors as young maternal age [9,10,11], short interval between pregnancies, history of previous abortion [11], multiple gestation [1,4], preeclampsia, placental abruption, immaturity and intrauterine growth restriction [11], a mother’s underlying diseases (including multi-morbidity [4,12] and addiction), being deprived of primary care during pregnancy, low maternal educational level [2,9], and being a single mother household [2,4] are considered to increase the risk of DD in the infant. Delivery through caesarian section [11] and preterm birth [1,13,14,15,16] are the most important risk factors of DD in the perinatal period, and male gender [4,9,13], low birth weight [1,2,4], first minute Apgar score <7 [11], intracranial hemorrhage [17], kernicterus, and no breastfeeding [1] are all risk factors in the postnatal period.…”

Screening for Developmental Delays in Children 2-36 Months of Age in a Primary Health Care Center in Cairo, Egypt

“…In the present study, girls scored higher than boys in the problem-solving domain, as did the study by El-Ella which showed that girls had higher scores compared to boys for communication and problemsolving domains. (10) While some studies (15) reported no gender difference when it comes to childhood development, some studies (16) showed the reverse; boys had a higher total developmental score than girls. In the current study children born first to the third order of birth have higher social score .These findings agree with a study in Iran that concluded that developmental delay is more prevalent in children with higher order of birth.…”

Prevalencia de los desórdenes del desarrollo en un hospital de 3er nivel de Santo Domingo Norte, República Dominicana

“…Esto afecta a los países en desarrollo, debido a que el mantenimiento de estos niños con discapacidades resultan en gastos, lo cuales no siempre pueden ser solventados en su totalidad, ya que los más afectados en la mayor parte de los casos son las personas de bajos recursos, como lo demuestra un estudio realizado por Gwatkin 17 en donde se evaluaron 56 casos, determinándose que los niños provenientes de familias de bajos recursos aumentan sus impedimentos cognitivos, contribuidos por el ambiente de pobreza al que están expuestos 18 . La prevalencia de retraso global del neurodesarrollo puede deberse a las características sociodemográficas de la población que es atendida, debido a la relación de dicha patología con el entorno familiar y ambiental al cual es expuesto el infante causando los efectos deletéreos en la adquisición de los hitos de desarrollo [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] .…”

“…Cabe destacar que el retraso global del neurodesarrollo, la parálisis cerebral y la discapacidad cognitiva fueron los trastornos del desarrollo más frecuente evidenciados, siendo este grupo de trastornos los que presentan mayor cantidad de factores de riesgo biológicos y ambientales que pueden ser modificados para disminuir su incidencia en la población, además de que los mismos guardan relación con las características sociodemográficas de la población [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] .…”