Assessment of child psychomotor development in population groups as a positive health indicator

It is necessary to use health indicators describing the conditions of all individuals in a population, not just of those who have a disease or die.

To introduce a method to collect population indicators of psychomotor development in children younger than 6 years old and show its results.

Data were obtained from a cross-sectional assessment regarding compliance with 13 developmental milestones (selected from the national reference) conducted in 5465 children using five surveys administered by the Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin Authority in areas of this basin where a high proportion of families with unmet basic needs live. For each survey, a logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the median age at attainment of the 13 developmental milestones. A linear regression model between the estimated age at attainment of the 13 milestones was adjusted for each survey based on the corresponding age at attainment of the national reference. Based on this model, three indicators were defined: overall developmental quotient, developmental quotient at 4 years old, and developmental trend.

Results from the five surveys ranged between 0.74 and 0.85, 0.88 and 0.81, and -0.15 and -0.26 for the overall developmental quotient, developmental quotient at 4 years old, and developmental trend, respectively. A distinct developmental delay and an increasing trend in delay with age were observed.

Indicators are easily interpreted and related to social indicators (unmet basic needs, etc.). Collecting the information necessary to make estimations takes little time and can be applied to population groups, but not on an individual level.