Comparing the Results of Developmental Screening of 4 to 60-Month-Old Children in Tehran Using Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status and Ages and Stages Questionnaires

Objectives: This research was designed to evaluate the developmental status of children aged 4 to 60 months in Tehran city by two parent-based developmental screening questionnaires, parents evaluation of developmental status (PEDS) and ages and stages questionnaires (ASQ), and also to determine the consistency coefficient between these two tests.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, PEDS and ASQ were performed on 648 children (350 boys and 298 girls), aged 4 to 60 (mean, 23.5±16.10) months at four health centers in Tehran city.
Results: Developmental disorders were observed in 23.1% of children (4.6% delayed and 18.5% suspicious), who were examined by PEDS, and in 26.4% of children, who were examined by ASQ (14.7% delayed and 11.7% suspicious). The estimated values of kappa measure of agreement and Pearson Chi-Square for the results of the two screening tests were 0.30 (P < 0.001) and 115.98 (P < 0.001), respectively. The results of these tests were similar in 93.3%, 94% and 91% of cases in fine motor, gross motor and language domains of development, respectively. Due to the rather large sample size and similarity of the screening results by both questionnaires in 71.5% of cases, it is possible to conclude that this measure is an acceptable one.
Conclusions: This study showed that PEDS and ASQ have acceptable agreement, thus it seems that PEDS can be used for children’s developmental screening especially in child care visits.