Screening for Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Japanese 18- and 36-Month Health Check-Ups: Utility and Reproducibility...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Neurodevelopment
• Developmental Psychology
• Public Health Screening

Background:

• Early detection of neurodevelopmental disorders is crucial for timely intervention.
• The ESSENCE Questionnaire (ESSENCE-Q) is designed to identify early signs across developmental domains.
• Validating ESSENCE-Q in diverse populations, like Japanese infants, is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility, reliability, accuracy, and reproducibility of the ESSENCE Questionnaire (ESSENCE-Q) in 18- and 36-month-old Japanese infants and toddlers.
• To assess the performance of ESSENCE-Q completed by mothers, public health nurses, and psychologists.
• To establish optimal cut-off values for ESSENCE-Q in the Japanese population.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal analysis of data from 1373 children at 18- and 36-month health check-ups.
• Independent completion of ESSENCE-Q by mothers (ESSENCE-Q-M), public health nurses (ESSENCE-Q-N), and psychologists (ESSENCE-Q-P).
• Evaluation of effectiveness using receiver operating characteristic curves.

Main Results:

• Overall neurodevelopmental disorder prevalence was 11.2%.
• ESSENCE-Q demonstrated good internal consistency.
• Psychologist-completed ESSENCE-Q (ESSENCE-Q-P) showed the highest performance at 18 months; both nurse- (ESSENCE-Q-N) and psychologist-completed (ESSENCE-Q-P) versions performed excellently at 36 months.
• Maternal completion alone (ESSENCE-Q-M) was insufficient for standalone use.

Conclusions:

• The ESSENCE Questionnaire (ESSENCE-Q) is a highly useful and reproducible screening tool for professionals conducting 18- and 36-month check-ups.
• ESSENCE-Q completed by mothers requires supplementation with professional assessments for accurate neurodevelopmental disorder screening.
• This study validates ESSENCE-Q as a valuable tool for early detection in Japanese infants and toddlers.