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Time trends and determinants of multiple development delays in Bavarian preschool children: a retrospective analysis from 1997 to 2010

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study was to identify the time trends of multiple developmental delays and to determine the strength of selected factors influencing preschool child’s development.

Methods

We reviewed the records of 13,876 preschoolers in a district of Lower Bavaria to determine prevalence and time trends of combined developmental delays from 1997 to 2010. The effect of age, sex and nationality on development was estimated by using regression models.

Results

The largest increase was in the area of psychosocial development (1997:3.8 % versus 2010:13.8 %), followed by twofold combined delays in motor (2.6 versus 14.4 % in 2009) and twofold delays (1.3 versus 6.2 %) in cognition. Youngest children (4.26–5.49 years) had the highest risk for twofold delays in motor (4.78; 95 % CI 3.30–6.92), whereas strongest protection was observed for girls (0.28; 95 % CI 0.22–0.36) for threefold delays in motor and for a German nationality (0.30; 95 % CI 0.20–0.43) for fourfold delays in cognition.

Conclusions

According to this study, multiple disabilities in development were increasing in preschool children. These children can be considered as a risk group who therefore require measures in Public Health.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Mr. Heinrich Trapp, Landrat of the District of Dingolfing-Landau, Franz Beblo, MD, Chief of the Department of Public Health Medicine in Dingolfing-Landau and Mrs. Ursula Niederreiter, Social Medicine Assistant, for supporting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Department, Erding, Germany

    Heribert Ludwig Stich

  2. Fulham Consulting, Townville, QLD, Australia

    Riccardo Caniato

  3. School of Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Heribert Ludwig Stich & Alexander Krämer

  4. School of Medicine, Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

    Bernhard Baune

Authors
  1. Heribert Ludwig Stich
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  2. Riccardo Caniato
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  3. Alexander Krämer
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  4. Bernhard Baune
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heribert Ludwig Stich.

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Compliance with ethical standards

The authors declare that the study complies with the current laws of the country in which the investigation was performed.

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Stich, H.L., Caniato, R., Krämer, A. et al. Time trends and determinants of multiple development delays in Bavarian preschool children: a retrospective analysis from 1997 to 2010. Int J Public Health 62, 415–425 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0839-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0839-3

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