The effect of poverty on developmental screening scores among infants

Roles of caregiver-child interaction on the association of socioeconomic status with early childhood development: a population-based study in rural China

OBJECTIVE

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been previously associated with children's early development, health, and nutrition; however, evidence about the potential role of caregiver-child interaction in such associations was limited. This study aimed to explore the effect of caregiver-child interaction on the associations of SES with child developmental outcomes, including early neurodevelopment and social-emotional behavior.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2078 children aged 0-6 in a rural county that just lifted out of poverty in 2020 in Central China. The Ages & Stages Questionnaires-Chinese version (ASQ-C) and the Social-Emotional (ASQ: SE) questionnaire were used to assess children's early neurodevelopment and social-emotional behavior, respectively. Caregiver-child interaction was evaluated with the Brigance Parent-Child Interactions Scale. Regression-based statistical mediation and moderation effect were conducted with the PROCESS macro of SPSS.

RESULTS

Children with low SES had an increased risk of suspected neurodevelopmental delay [OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.50, 2.44] and social-emotional developmental delay [OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.66]. The caregiver-child interaction partially mediated the associations of SES with child developmental outcomes; the proportion of the indirect effect was 14.9% for ASQ-C total score and 32.1% for ASQ: SE score. Moreover, the caregiver-child interaction had a significant moderation effect on the association of SES with ASQ-C total score (P < 0.05). A weaker association was observed in children with high-level caregiver-child interaction than in medium and low ones. Similar moderating effects were found among boys but not girls.

CONCLUSION

Caregiver-child interaction plays a vital role in the relationship between SES and child development. Children with low SES households will benefit more in terms of their early development from intervention programs strengthening caregiver-child interaction.

Increased rates of unattained developmental milestones among Israeli children between 2016 and 2020: a national report

BACKGROUND

The early years of children's lives are critical for their healthy development. Although children's growth and development rates may vary, a significant delay during early childhood could indicate a medical or a developmental disorder. Developmental surveillance is used worldwide by healthcare providers in routine encounters, as well as by educators and parents, to elicit concerns about child development. In this work, we used a national dataset of developmental assessments to describe temporal trends of milestone attainment rates and associations between milestone attainment and various sociodemographic factors.

METHODS

The study included 1,002,700 children ages birth until 6 years with 4,441,689 developmental visits between the years 2016 and 2020. We used the Israeli developmental scale to assess the annual rates of failure to attain language, social and motoric milestones by the entire population, as well as by subgroups stratified by sociodemographic factors. In addition, we evaluated the rates of parental concern for child development and of the nurse's report of development inadequate for age. We used multivariable logistic regression to analyze the impact of different sociodemographic factors on the odds of failure to attain milestones, while controlling for confounding.

RESULTS

Milestone failure rates progressively increased over the examined years in all developmental domains, and most prominently in the language domain. Conversely, the rates of parental concern for developmental delay remained constant. In multivariable analysis, higher risk of milestone attainment failure was observed in children whose mothers were divorced, unemployed, immigrant, had lower education, of Bedouin origin or were over 40 years old when giving birth.

CONCLUSIONS

This report describes national trends of child development in the gross motor, fine motor, language, and social domains. A periodic report of these trends should be published to objectively evaluate subgroups in need for intervention, and to assess the effectiveness of intervention programs in attempt to maximize the developmental potential of children in Israel.

Infant Saliva Levels of microRNA miR-151a-3p Are Associated with Risk for Neurodevelopmental Delay

Prompt recognition of neurodevelopmental delay is critical for optimizing developmental trajectories. Currently, this is achieved with caregiver questionnaires whose sensitivity and specificity can be limited by socioeconomic and cultural factors. This prospective study of 121 term infants tested the hypothesis that microRNA measurement could aid early recognition of infants at risk for neurodevelopmental delay. Levels of four salivary microRNAs implicated in childhood autism (miR-125a-5p, miR-148a-5p, miR-151a-3p, miR-28-3p) were measured at 6 months of age, and compared between infants who displayed risk for neurodevelopmental delay at 18 months (n = 20) and peers with typical development (n = 101), based on clinical evaluation aided by the Survey of Wellbeing in Young Children (SWYC). Accuracy of microRNAs for predicting neurodevelopmental concerns at 18 months was compared to the clinical standard (9-month SWYC). Infants with neurodevelopmental concerns at 18 months displayed higher levels of miR-125a-5p (d = 0.30, p = 0.018, adj p = 0.049), miR-151a-3p (d = 0.30, p = 0.017, adj p = 0.048), and miR-28-3p (d = 0.31, p = 0.014, adj p = 0.048). Levels of miR-151a-3p were associated with an 18-month SWYC score (R = -0.19, p = 0.021) and probability of neurodevelopmental delay at 18 months (OR = 1.91, 95% CI, 1.14-3.19). Salivary levels of miR-151a-3p enhanced predictive accuracy for future neurodevelopmental delay (p = 0.010, X² = 6.71, AUC = 0.71) compared to the 9-month SWYC score alone (OR = 0.56, 95% CI, 0.20-1.58, AUC = 0.567). This pilot study provides evidence that miR-151a-3p may aid the identification of infants at risk for neurodevelopmental delay. External validation of these findings is necessary.

Uso da Escala de Avaliação do Desenvolvimento Infantil Bayley III em Crianças Brasileiras: Revisão Sistemática

Resumo O objetivo deste estudo foi realizar uma revisão sistemática de pesquisas com a Escala Bayley-III em crianças brasileiras. Foram seguidas as recomendações PRISMA, com buscas nas bases MEDLINE, LILACS, SCIELO, Scopus, PUBMED e Web of Science. A revisão incluiu artigos publicados nos idiomas português e inglês entre 2006 e 2018. Foram encontrados 856 estudos e, após análise do título e resumo, selecionaram-se 24. Os estudos avaliaram o desenvolvimento de crianças prematuras, típicas, frequentadoras de creche, e atípicas,sendo a maioria residente na região Sudeste e com até 12 meses de idade. A literatura apontou a prevalência de fatores de risco e altos percentuais de suspeitas e atrasos do desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor entre as crianças brasileiras avaliadas.

Effects of affordances in the home environment on children's personal-social, problem-solving, and communication skills

BACKGROUND

Among the various factors forming the environment, most developmentalists are in agreement that the home is the primary agent for change in child growth and development. The present study investigated the effect of affordances in the home on personal-social, problem-solving, and communication skills of children between 18 and 42 months of age. This investigation extends work focusing on "motor" affordances as an environmental feature.

METHODS

Using cross-sectional design, 251 families (124 boys and 127 girls) were evaluated using the Persian translation of Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development and the Ages and Stages Inventories to determine the three skill competencies.

RESULTS

Results showed that the level of home affordances significantly impacted all three skill areas. And the total variance of predictive values in the final model had a moderate and significant ratio. Other factors such as attendance and non-attendance of children in kindergarten, family income, and education of parents were also contributing factors.

CONCLUSIONS

In general, these findings indicate that the home environment plays an important role in the development of personal-social, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Neurodevelopment of children exposed intra-uterus by Zika virus: A case series

The main goal of this manuscript was to investigate the neurodevelopment of children exposed by Zika virus in the intrauterine period who are asymptomatic at birth. Newborns with documented Zika virus exposure during the intrauterine period who were asymptomatic at birth were followed in the first two years of life for neurodevelopment using Bayley III test. Children were classified as having normal or delayed neurodevelopment for age based on most recent Bayley III evaluation results. Eighty-four infants were included in the study. The first Bayley III evaluation was performed at a mean chronological age of 9.7±3.1 month; 13 children (15%) had a delay in one of the three domains, distributed as follow: 10 (12%) in the language domain and 3 (3.5%) in the motor domain. The most recent Bayley III evaluation was performed at a mean age 15.3±3.1 months; 42 children (50%) had a delay in one of the three domains: 4 (5%) in cognition, 31 (37%) in language, and 20 (24%) in motor performance. There were no statistical differences in Gender, Gestational Age, Birth Weight and Head Circurference at birth between children with normal and delayed neurodevelopment for age. A very high proportion of children exposed ZIKV during pregnancy who were asymptomatic at birth demonstrated a delay in neurodevelopment, mainly in the language domain, the first two years of life.

Association between family poverty and the neuropsychomotor development of children in the administrative districts of Belém

Abstract Introduction: Childhood development represents a sequence of changes in behavior and underlying processes, influenced by biological and environmental factors. Screening and monitoring of neurodevelopment show effective procedures for early identification of different disorders of childhood development. Objective: To analyze the neurodevelopment, using the Denver Developmental Screening Test II, of children enrolled in preschools of Administrative Districts in Belém and to map the districts and the percentage of development evaluated as normal and suspected delay. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and exploratory descriptive study. A questionnaire was administered to parents to collect the personal, contextual and family data and an instrument to measure the level of family poverty. Results: Of the 319 children assessed, 77.7% showed a suspected delay in neuropsychomotor developmental and 59.2% in language. The family poverty level variable showed a statistically significant association with the overall level of development (p = .011) and of language (p = .003). Conclusion: It is hoped that this study will contribute to generate an impact in improving the ecological conditions of children and their families, reducing the risks to which they are exposed.

Childhood Poverty and Cognitive Development in Latin America in the 21st Century

For at least eight decades, researchers have analyzed the association between childhood poverty and cognitive development in different societies worldwide, but few of such studies have been carried out in Latin America. The aim of the present paper is to systematically review the empirical studies that have analyzed the associations between poverty and cognitive development in children under 18 years of age from Latin American and Caribbean countries between 2000 and 2015. This analysis takes into consideration the country where the work was conducted, the experimental and analytical design, sample size and composition, cognitive and poverty paradigms implemented, levels of analysis, and the inclusion of mediation analyses. Through these, we identify common patterns in the negative impact of poverty that have been repeatedly verified in the literature in other continents; we also call attention to a set of issues regarding sample, design, paradigms, impact, and mediation analyses that should be considered in future studies in the region.

Evolution of a child with Treacher Collins syndrome undergoing physiotherapeutic treatment

AbstractIntroduction Treacher Collins syndrome, or mandibulofacial dysostosis, is a hereditary disorder and is manifested by craniofacial malformations. The incidence is close to one case per 40,000 live births, without relation to gender or race. The infant carrier may present neurological development. This rare syndrome requires documentation of its main clinical and kinetic-functional consequences.Objectives The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical and kinetic-functional findings for a child who has Treacher Collins syndrome and receives treatment in the Physiotherapy Department at the Pestalozzi Association in Goiania, and to present the evolution of motor function and psychomotor development during rehabilitation.Materials and methods The information was obtained through interviews with the mother, and evaluation of the child at nine and eleven months old, using the infant neurological assessment sheet, Inventory Operational Portage (IPO) and Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM).Results The GMFM showed that the child had a higher trend in the items for lying and rolling, sitting, crawling and kneeling and minor changes in the items for standing, walking, running and jumping. In the IPO, the child progressed in all of the assessed areas: infant stimulation, motor development, socialization, self-care, cognition and language.Conclusion The child showed progress in psychomotor development in accordance with that expected for their age and initial assessment. It is suggested that children with this syndrome be treated by multidisciplinary teams in the first years of life, preventing delays and deviations in development.

A refined approach to evaluating global developmental delay for the international medical community

BACKGROUND

Global developmental delay is usually defined as significant delay in two or more domains of development. Etiologic diagnosis generally proves difficult and the etiology remains undetermined in up to 62% of these children. Those in whom an etiology is established generally undergo an exhaustive and costly diagnostic evaluation, even though this may not change the medical or therapeutic management of the delay. The history and physical examination may provide up to 40% of etiologic diagnoses if adequately conducted.

METHODS

We performed a critical review of the literature on global developmental delay via PubMed.

RESULTS

Five major etiologic categories for global developmental delay were identified and traits of the history and physical examination suggestive for their diagnosis were described. Additionally, current diagnostic tools and their benefits and limitations were appraised.

CONCLUSIONS

We propose an improved approach to enhance clinical diagnosis in both resource-rich and resource-limited settings favoring early intervention and management.

Desempenho funcional de crianças com paralisia cerebral de níveis socioeconômicos alto e baixo

OBJETIVO: Investigar a influência do nível socioeconômico sobre o desempenho funcional de crianças com paralisia cerebral. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal com abordagem quantitativa. Foram selecionadas 49 crianças com diagnóstico clínico de paralisia cerebral de uma amostra de conveniência, com idades de três a sete anos e meio, de ambos os sexos, classificadas de acordo com o nível de gravidade da paralisia cerebral, com base no Sistema de Classificação da Função Motora Grosseira. Os participantes foram distribuídos em dois grupos de níveis socioeconômicos, alto e baixo, de acordo com o Critério de Classificação Econômica do Brasil. O desempenho funcional foi avaliado com o Inventário de Avaliação Pediátrica de Incapacidade. Foi aplicado o teste t de Student para amostras independentes a fim de comparar as médias entre os grupos. RESULTADOS: O nível socioeconômico não afetou o desempenho funcional de crianças com paralisia cerebral leve. Crianças com paralisia cerebral moderada de classe econômica baixa apresentaram escores da função social inferiores (p=0,027) aos daquelas de classe alta. Crianças com paralisia cerebral grave de nível socioeconômico baixo apresentaram desempenho inferior nas habilidades de autocuidado (p=0,021) e mobilidade (p=0,005). Essas crianças foram mais dependentes em relação à mobilidade (p=0,015) do que as de nível socioeconômico alto. CONCLUSÕES: O nível socioeconômico pode exercer influência no desenvolvimento da criança com paralisia cerebral, devendo ser fator de risco considerado nas ações educacionais e de saúde voltadas a essa população.

Monitoramento do desenvolvimento infantil realizado no Brasil

OBJETIVO: Revisar a literatura científica para verificar como a vigilância do desenvolvimento infantil vem sendo realizada no Brasil. FONTES DE DADOS: Pesquisa em bases de dados (PubMed, Medline, SciELO e Banco de Teses da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) sobre estudos das práticas médicas em relação à vigilância e ao monitoramento do desenvolvimento infantil no Brasil, de 2000 a 2011. Os termos usados para pesquisa foram: vigilância de desenvolvimento infantil, intervenção precoce, triagem de desenvolvimento e testes de triagem de desenvolvimento. Foram encontrados dez textos referentes ao tema em estudo. Artigos originais, de revisão e teses foram revisados, bem como as listas de referências das publicações sobre o assunto. SÍNTESE DOS DADOS: Os estudos sobre a prática do monitoramento do desenvolvimento infantil no Brasil apontam uma importante falha, desde a formação do médico pediatra até a prática clínica, em relação a este tema. CONCLUSÕES: Há necessidade urgente, principalmente frente a uma população emergente de prematuros, que os pediatras façam uma reciclagem do conhecimento sobre o desenvolvimento infantil.

[Factors associated with delay in children development, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil]

This analytical study aims to evaluate the factors associated to developmental delay in 8-12 months aged children, indicated as at risk at birth in Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul Brazil. The instruments used were the Denver Development Screening Test II, anthropometric evaluation and questionnaires. Two hundred and twenty children (both at risk and out of risk) participated. It was found a prevalence of o20.5% of potential delay in psychomotor development. Children who presented a risk of a suspicious DDST II were part of lower income families; their mothers had not been to more than six prenatal visits; and had inappropriate weight-age indicator The data suggest the need of a rethinking of policies on child health, given that other criteria could be included in the risk conditions to the child at birth.