Epidemiological aspects of developmental disorders in school aged children

Abstract

Multiple factors infl uence the discrepancy between the prevalence rates of developmental disorders worldwide. In addition to different prevalence rates of developmental disorders, there are differences in terminology and their classifi cation. The purpose of the research was to estimate the prevalence and gender distribution of developmental disorders and to calculate the number of children with developmental disorders and special educational needs in a convenience sample of school-age children. We also calculated the number of children with congenital malformations and diseases that affect vision and hearing. We processed the data from medical records of 1750 children (835 males and 915 females) who were examined in the Pediatric Dispensary, Military Hospital, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia during the period of June 30 1992 to June 30 2011. A descriptive method was used. For statistical data analysis we used Chi-square test and Fisher exact test with level of signifi cance p<0.05. A total of 153 out of 1750 (8.7%) children had developmental disorders and special educational needs. Gender distribution shows that 97 children (11.6%) were males and 56 children (6.1%) were females. Specifi c developmental disorders of speech and language were most frequent (82.3%) from all developmental disorders. Prevalence rates of some diseases and developmental disorders were lower in comparison to other studies, e.g., specific developmental disorders of scholastic skills, hyperkinetic disorders, refractive errors and conductive hearing loss. Low prevalence rate of certain disorders could indicate their underdetection.