Predictors of early life milestones: Results from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort

Abstract

BackgroundPre- and postnatal factors have been found to be predictors of age at attaining milestones in infancy; however, the degree to which such factors are predictors of milestones in the subsequent years is less investigated. The aim was to conduct a systematic evaluation of a broad range of possible predictors of milestone attainment during the second and third years to identify factors that explain significant inter-individual variance.MethodsMothers of 4009 children from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort (1959–61) were interviewed by a physician about 20 developmental milestones at a three-year examination. Milestones were related to: Language, Walking, Eating, Dressing, Social interaction, and Toilet training. Information on possible predictors was collected during pregnancy and at a 1- and 3-year follow-up.ResultsSeveral pre- and postnatal factors were significantly associated with the timing of milestone attainment; especially parental social status, paternal age, sex, gestational age, birth weight, birth length, weight increase in the first year of life, and motor development during the first year of life. The significant predictors explained 16.2% of the variance in the Overall mean of milestones and 20.3% of the variance in milestones related to Walking. The most influential individual factor for the timing of milestone attainment was previous motor development during the first year of life. Additionally, sex was an important factor as girls were generally faster at attaining milestones. Parental social status was a consistent, but relatively week predictor.ConclusionA notable amount of variance in the timing of milestones during the first three years of life can be explained by perinatal and early postnatal factors. The study provides evidence of developmental continuity as the main predictor of milestones in the second and third years was the speed of development during the first year.

Socioeconomic and Familial Factors Associated with Gross Motor Skills among US Children Aged 3–5 Years: The 2012 NHANES National Youth Fitness Survey

“…The inverse association has been reported in older literature from the 1960s to the 1970s [37,38] but less so in more recent literature. The inverse association could be in line with the prior observation that higher parental social status was associated with later attainment of milestones related to toilet training [39], although the mechanism is not yet well understood. It is plausible that in some cultures or societies, increasing affluence is associated with missed opportunities for gross motor activities, which, in turn, could lead to later attainment of gross motor skills.…”

Achievement of Developmental Milestones Recorded in Real Time: A Mobile App-Based Study

“…This study has two major limitations. First, information on known factors that are associated with milestone achievement, such as gestational age and socioeconomic factors, [20][21][22][23] were unavailable because Papatto Ikuji did not collect these data. In addition, birth weight data were not available for all participants in this study.…”

Double Jeopardy in Contemporary China: Intersecting the Socioeconomic Gradient and Geographic Context on Early Childhood Development

“…In addition, a series of pre- and postnatal factors have been identified to be associated with the timing and attainment of early developmental milestones [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. We, therefore, control a set of covariates, such as a child’s gender, minority status, birth cohort, birth weight, the period of gestation, and mother′s age at delivery.…”