Validity and clinical utility of children development assessement using milestones reported by mothers.

INTRODUCTION

The monitoring of infants development during preventive care visits to identify children whose development is concerning for delay is an essential part of pediatric practice.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to examine the validity and clinical utility of developmental milestones reported by mothers in assessment of children development compared with the outcomes of BSID-II (Bayley Scales of Infant Development--second edition).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The cohort recruited prenatally, included 384 children. The Mental and Motor Scales of BSID-II were administered to each child at the end of the 12th, 24th and 36th month of life. When children were 3 years old, mothers were questioned about their child's age at attainment of 8 significant developmental milestones.

RESULTS

Sensitivity for the developmental milestones compared with score on the motor and mental scales of the BSID-II varied from 25.0% to 75.0%, specificity from 54.1% to 80.2%. The all of analysed milestones were characterized by low positive predictive value and rather high the negative one.

CONCLUSION

Parent report developmental milestones are a better tool for excluding those children who attain milestones rapidly, as a group with low risk of developmental delays, than in identifying children whose development is suspected of being delayed.