Global developmental delay and its determinants among urban infants and toddlers: a cross sectional study.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of global developmental delay among children under 3 years of age and study the determinant factors.

Methods: Cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in field practice areas of the Department of Community Medicine, JN Medical College, Aligarh, India. A total of 468 (243 boys and 225 girls) children aged 0-3 years were included. Developmental screening was performed for each child. A multitude of biological and environmental factors were analysed.

Results: As many as 7.1% of the children screened positive for global developmental delay. Maximum delay was observed in the 0-12 months age group (7.0%). Undernutrition and prematurity were the two most prevalent etiological diagnoses (21% each). Stunting and maternal illiteracy were the microenvironmental predictors on stepwise binary logistic regression while prematurity and a history of seizures emerged significant biological predictors.

Conclusions: Developmental delay can be predicted by specific biological and environmental factors which would help in initiating appropriate interventions.