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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Association of parental age with developmental vulnerability in early childhood: a population-based cohort study

Yuan-Der Huang1,2, Yun-Shao Huang3, Yun-Ru Luo4

  • 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taichung Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan.

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
|July 10, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Younger parents face higher child developmental risks linked to socioeconomic factors, while older parents

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Health
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Delayed childbearing is a growing trend in the Western Pacific.
  • Understanding its impact on early childhood development is crucial.
  • This study examines parental age and child developmental vulnerability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the association between parental age and multidomain developmental vulnerability (MDV) in children at 36 months.
  • To differentiate between physiological and socioeconomic pathways influencing developmental risk.
  • To inform public health strategies for mitigating developmental inequalities.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of data from the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (n=18,171).
  • Assessment of child development across five domains (motor, language, sociocognitive, personal-social).
  • Definition of MDV as impairment in ≥2 developmental domains; used modified Poisson regression.

Main Results:

  • Maternal age showed a reverse J-shaped association with MDV.
  • Younger mothers (20-24 years) had elevated risk (aRR 1.23) linked to socioeconomic factors.
  • Older mothers (≥40 years) had attenuated risk (aRR 1.13) after accounting for paternal age and perinatal factors.
  • Risk was highest for both parents aged 20-24 (aRR 1.31); advanced paternal age was linked to lower personal-social vulnerability (aRR 0.80).

Conclusions:

  • Developmental risks in younger parents may stem from socioenvironmental factors.
  • Risks in older parents may be associated with physiological pathways.
  • Precision public health should offer risk-stratified support for younger families and clinical monitoring for older parents.
Abstract

No abstract available in PubMed .

Keywords:
Birth cohortDevelopmental vulnerabilityParental ageSocioeconomic statusTaiwan

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