The prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of undetected developmental delay in preschool- aged children in the northwest of Iran: a population - based study

New estimates indicate that many children in low- and middle-income
countries are at risk of developmental delay (DD). This study aimed to
assess the prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of undetected
DD, and mean developmental scores (MDS) in preschool-aged children
in the northwest of Iran. This study was conducted on 615 children aged
36–60 months. For the early detection of DD, the Persian version of the
Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) was used for face-to-face
interviews with mothers. Our findings showed that the prevalence of DD
was 13.98% (1.63% in communication, 2.28% in gross motor skills, 3.41%
in fine motor, 2.67% in problem-solving and 3.58% in social-personal
domains). Multivariate analyses showed that DD was higher in preterm
children, single-child families, and the second SES quantile. Due to the
high prevalence of DD and the importance of early identification and
intervention, it is necessary to diagnose DD at early ages