evaluation of the young children with neurodevelopmental disability: a prospective study at hamadan university of medical sciences clinics

how to cite this article: fayyazi a, kheizrian l, kheradmand z, damadi s, khajeh a. evaluation of the young children with neurodevelopmental disability: a prospective study at hamadan university of medical sciences clinics. iran j child neurol. 2013 winter; 7 (1):29-33.   objective developmental impairment is a common problem in children health that occurs in approximately 5–10% of the childhood population. the aim of this study was to determine the etiologic yield of subspecialists’ evaluation of young children with developmental disability. material s & methods all children aged between 2 months and 5 years referred over a 15-month period to hamadan university of medical sciences subspecialty services for initial evaluation of a suspected developmental disability, were enrolled in the present study. diagnostic yield was determined after the completion of clinical assessments and laboratory tests requested by the evaluating physician. results a total of 198 children (129 boys and 69 girls) were eligible for our study. 108 children had global developmental delay and 90 children had isolated developmental delay. approximately ¼ of all patients did not have any specific etiology for developmental disability. cerebral palsy (cp) was the most common clinical syndrome in all patients (41.4%). hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (13.8%), brain dysgenesis (13%), genetic disorder (13%), and  neurodegenerative  diseases  (11%)  were  determined  in  more  than one half of all children with global developmental disability. in our study, “developmental speech delay” was the common cause of isolated speech delay. conclusion determination of an underlying etiology is an essential part of specialty evaluation of young children with developmental disability. the results of this study were similar closely to the results of other studies.   refe r ences bernard lm. current management in child neurology. 3rd ed. london: bc decker inc; 2005. pp. 3-8 and 246-50. cleary m a, green a. developmental delay: when to suspect and how to investigate for an inborn error of metabolism. arch dis child 2005;90(11):1128–32. glascoe fp, dworkin ph. obstacles to effective developmental surveillance: errors in clinical reasoning. j dev behav pediatrics 1993;14(5):344–9. shaffer lg. american college of medical genetics guideline on the cytogenetic evaluation of the individual with developmental delay or mental retardation. genet med 2005;7:650-4. nelson hd, nygren p, walker m, panoscha r. screening for speech and language delay in preschool children: systematic evidence review for the us preventive services task force. pediatrics 2006;117(2):e 297-319. leung ak, kao cp. evaluation and management of the child with speech delay. am fam physician 1999; 59(11):3121-28. bosley a. developmental delay versus developmental impairment. arch dis child 2005; 90(8):875. matson jl, mahan s, lovullo sv. parent training: a review of methods for children with developmental disabilities. res dev disabils 2009;30(5): 961–8. shevell m, ashwal s, donley d, flint j, gingold m, hirtz d, et al. practice parameter: evaluation of the child with global developmentaldelay: report of the quality standards subcommittee of the american academy of neurology and the practice committee of the child neurology society. neurology 2003;60(3):367-80. mcdonald l, rennie a, tolmie j, galloway p, mcwilliam r. investigation of global developmental delay. arch dis child 2006;91(8):701–5. miller dt, adam mp, aradhya s, biesecker lg, brothman ar, carter np, et al. consensus statement: chromosomal microarrayc is a first-tier clinical diagnostic test for individuals with developmental disabilities or congenital anomalies. am j hum genet 2010;86(5):749–64. stankiewicz p, beaude al. use of array cgh in the     evaluation of dysmorphology, malformations, developmental delay, and idiopathic mental retardation. curr opin genet dev 2007;17(3):182-92. sherr eh, shevell mi. global developmental delay and mental retardation/intellectual disability. in: swaiman kf, ashwal s, ferriro dm, schor nf, editors. swaiman’s pediatric neurology. 5th ed. china: elsevier saunders; 2012. p. 554-74. shevel mi, majnemer a, rosenbawn p, abrahamowiez m. etiologic yield of subspecialists’ evaluation of young children with global developmental delay. j pediatr 2000 may;136(5):593-8. tikaria a, kabara m, gupta n, sapra s, balakrishnan p, gulati s, et al. aetiology of global developmental delay in young children: experience from a tertiary care center in india. natl med j india 2010;23(6):324-9. aggarwal s, bogula vr, mandal k, kumar r, phadke sr. aetiologic spectrum of mental retardation & developmental delay in india. indian j med res 2012;136(3):436-44.