Is there a relationship between parental concern and suspicion of developmental delay?

Objective: To investigate the existence of an association between parents' concerns about their child's development and alterations in the child's development, risk factors, and family socioeconomic status.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed, using data collected at child care centers in municipalities in the south of Santa Catarina, Brazil, from parents of children aged between four and 65 months. Information about parental concerns, child development, and family risk factors was collected using the "Survey of Wellbeing of Young Children (SWYC-BR)" instrument. The "Classification of the Brazilian Association of Research Companies" was applied to classify socioeconomic status. The data were then subjected to a multivariate analysis using the R Studio software. A significance level of 0.05 was adopted.

Results: A total of 498 children participated in the study, with an average age of 41 months. The multivariate analysis revealed that parents who expressed concern about their children's current development are approximately three times more likely to have children with suspected developmental delay (prevalence ratio - PR 2,97; 95% confidence interval - 95%CI 1.85-4.33). Furthermore, abuse of illicit substances increases the risk of children with suspected delay by almost two times (p=0.034). However, the other environmental variables were not associated with developmental delay.

Conclusions: The study demonstrated that parents' concern about their child's development is a significant predictor of suspected developmental delay. This finding highlights the importance of considering parental concern as a factor in developmental monitoring and family-centered intervention programs.