Child development in primary care: a surveillance proposal

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Development
• Screening Tools
• Primary Care Interventions

Background:

• Child development surveillance is crucial for early identification of delays.
• Existing tools require validation for diverse populations and primary care settings.
• The Denver II scale is a widely used developmental assessment tool.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel child development surveillance tool for primary care use.
• To compare the surveillance tool's performance against the Denver II scale.
• To assess the utility of incorporating risk factors into developmental screening.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 282 infants up to 36 months old.
• Infants were recruited from a public daycare in a rural Brazilian community.
• Child development was assessed using both the surveillance tool and the Denver II scale.

Main Results:

• The surveillance tool identified a 53% prevalence of probable developmental delay, with most in the 'alert' group.
• The Denver II scale indicated a 32% prevalence of suspected developmental delay.
• Normal development was observed in 24% of children, but with identified risk factors.

Conclusions:

• The evaluated surveillance tool provides objective, comparable data suitable for screening.
• The tool is easily applicable in primary care settings, despite its original design as a surveillance instrument.
• Incorporating risk factors enhances the tool's ability to identify children with suspected delays, though parameter refinement is needed.