Evaluation of evolutionary status of 4–60-month-old children in Kashan and Aran-Bidgol and its related factors in 2016–2017

Paying attention to Children's evolutionary status help to improve their mental capacity and make them more intelligent and creative adults. The present study aimed to investigate the developmental status in 4–60-month-old children of Kashan and Aran-Bidgol and its related factors in 2016–2017. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 656 children aged 4–60 months in Kashan and Aran-Bidgol that were recruited by a stratified random sampling method. Data were collected through self-report using Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and demographic and clinical questionnaire. The ASQ consists of 30 questions in five domains including communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal-social skills. The inter-rater agreement coefficient of 93%, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.51–0.87, and the 2-week test–retest correlation of 0.75 are reported for this questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as Chi-square, ANOVA, and t-test. The significance level was considered <0.05. The results showed that 527 (80.3%) of the 656 children were healthy, and the rest had a disorder at least in one of the developmental domains, including 1.5% disorders in communication skills, 6.2% in gross motor, 1.2% in fine motor skills, 1.2% in problem-solving, and 0.9% in the personal-social area. There was a significant relationship between developmental disorders with the child's gender and birth weight. Among maternal characteristics, there was a significant relationship between the mother's job and age with developmental delay. Despite the normal evolution in most children of Kashan and Aran-Bidgol, a significant number of them had a disorder at least in one of the evolutionary domains. It is essential to sensitize the families about the developmental process of their children and encourage them to alleviate the risk factors to prevent early complications of these disorders in the future.