Prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of development delay among children in Ceará, Brazil: A population-based study

• Published in: PloS one 2019-11, Vol.14 (11), p.e0215343-e0215343
• Main Authors: Correia, Luciano Lima, Rocha, Hermano Alexandre Lima, Sudfeld, Christopher Robert, Rocha, Sabrina Gabriele Maia Oliveira, Leite, Álvaro Jorge Madeiro, Campos, Jocileide Sales, Silva, Anamaria Cavalcante E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Brazil - epidemiology; Censuses; Child; Child development; Child poverty; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Childrens health; Cross-Sectional Studies; Delay; Developmental Disabilities - epidemiology; Domains; Early childhood education; Economic conditions; Evaluation; Family Characteristics; Female; Females; Gender differences; Households; Humans; Infant; Low income groups; Male; Males; Maternal & child health; Medicine and Health Sciences; Methods; People and Places; Population; Population growth; Population studies; Population-based studies; Poverty; Prevalence; Public health; Questionnaires; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk; Risk assessment; Risk communication; Risk Factors; Risk management; Risk reduction; Social classes; Social development; Social interactions; Social Sciences; Social support; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Welfare reform
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215343

To assess the prevalence of child development delay and to identify socioeconomic determinants. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of children 2 to 72 months of age residing in the state of Ceará, Brazil. In total, 3200 households were randomly selected for participation in the study and had child development assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) version 3. Development delay was defined as a score of less than -2 standard deviations below the median of the Brazilian ASQ standard. We present population-level prevalence of delay in five development domains and assess socioeconomic determinants. A total of 3566 children completed the ASQ development assessment of which 9.2% (95% CI: 8.1-10.5) had at least one domain with development delay. The prevalence of delay increased with age in all domains and males were at higher risk for communication, gross motor and personal-social development delays as compared to females (p-values