Objective: Evaluate a) the prevalence of developmental disabilities (DD) in children admitted to a general pediatrics inpatient unit, and b) the number of children admitted to the unit with previously undiagnosed developmental disability. Methods: Prevalence was evaluated through retrospective record review. Subjects: One hundred ninety children older than five months of age admitted to a general pediatric unit. Results: Of 190 children admitted, 155 (81.6%) had adequate developmental screening documented in the record. Forty-nine (25.7% of total, 31.6% of screened) had a developmental disability, 22 (12.1% of total, 14.8% of screened) had a previously unrecognized disability. Sample prevalence of DD was: cerebral palsy (6.8%), developmental delay or mental retardation (8.4%), language delay (4.6%), learning disability (8.2%), and hearing loss (1.5%). New diagnoses included: three children with probable mental retardation (MR), nine with learning disability (may include mild MR), seven with language delay, three with abnormal motor skills (fine and/or gross motor), one each of: neurofibromatosis type I, hearing loss, cerebral palsy, dysphagia. Some children had more than one new diagnosis. Conclusion: The prevalence of disabilities in a general pediatrics inpatient unit is much higher than the prevalence in the community. Because almost half of the disabilities were previously unrecognized, acute hospitalization is an excellent opportunity to conduct developmental screening.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee of Children with Developmental Disabilities. (1994). Screening infants and young children for developmental disabilities. Pediatrics 93: 863–865.
Barone, M. A. (1996). Development. In (Eds.), The Harriet Lane Handbook: A Manual for Pediatric House Officers, edited by. St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book, Inc., pp. 177–187.
Boyle, C. A., Decoufle, P., and Yeargin-Allsopp, M. (1994). Prevalence and health impact of developmental disabilities in US children. Pediatrics 93: 399–403.
Boyle, C. A., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., Doernberg, N. S., Holmgreen, P., Murphy, C. C., and Schendel, D. E. (1996). Prevalence of selected developmental disabilities in children 3–10 years of age: The Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program, 1991. Mor. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. CDC Surveill. Summ. 45: 1–14.
Brown, R. T., Freeman, W. S., Perrin, J. M., Stein, M. T., Amler, R. W., Feldman, H. M., Pierce, K., and Wolraich, M. L. (2001). Prevalence and assessment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in primary care settings. Pediatrics 107: E43.
Capute, A. J., and Accardo, P. J. (1978). Linguistic and auditory milestones during the first two years of life: A language inventory for the practitioner. Clin. Pediatr. (Phila) 17: 847– 853.
Capute, A. J., and Accardo, P. J. (1996). The infant neurodevelopmental assessment: A clinical interpretive manual for CAT-CLAMS in the first two years of life, part 1. Curr. Probl. Pediatr. 26: 238–257.
Capute, A. J., Palmer, F. B., Shapiro, B. K., Wachtel, R. C., Schmidt, S., and Ross, A. (1986a). Clinical linguistic and auditory milestone scale: Prediction of cognition in infancy. Dev. Med. Child. Neurol. 28: 762–771.
Capute, A. J., Shapiro, B. K., Wachtel, R. C., Gunther, V. A., and Palmer, F. B. (1986b). The Clinical Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale (CLAMS). Identification of cognitive defects in motor-delayed children. Am. J. Dis. Child. 140: 694–698.
Chesky, R. H. (1995). Screening for developmental disabilities: A suggestion! [letter; comment]. Pediatrics 95: 159.
Dworkin, P. H. (1992). Developmental screening: (Still) expecting the impossible? [comment]. Pediatrics 89: 1253–1255.
Feldman, H. M., Ploof, D. L., Hofkosh, D., and Goehring, E. L., Jr. (1993). Developmental needs of infants and toddlers who require lengthy hospitalization. Am. J. Dis. Child. 147: 211–215.
Flannery, K. A., Liederman, J., Daly’, L., and Schultz, J. (2000). Male prevalence for reading disability is found in a large sample of black and white children free from ascertainment bias. J. Int. Neuropsychol. Soc. 6: 433–442.
Glascoe, F. P. (1997). Parents’ concerns about children’s development: Prescreening technique or screening test? [see comments]. Pediatrics 99: 522–528.
Glascoe, F. P., Altemeier, W. A., and MacLean, W. E. (1989). The importance of parents’ concerns about their child’s development. Am. J. Dis. Child. 143: 955–958.
Glascoe, F. P., and Dworkin, P. H. (1995). The role of parents in the detection of developmental and behavioral problems. Pediatrics 95: 829–836.
Glascoe, F. P., and Sandler, H. (1995). Value of parents’ estimates of children’s developmental ages. J. Pediatr. 127: 831–835.
Johnson, C. P., and Blasco, P. A. (1997). Infant growth and development. Pediatr Rev 18: 224–242.
Kenny, T. J., Hebel, J. R., Sexton, M. J., and Fox, N. L. (1987). Developmental screening using parent report. J. Dev. Behav. Pediatr. 8: 8–11.
Landgren, M., Pettersson, R., Kjellman, B., and Gillberg, C. (1996). ADHD, DAMP and other neurodevelopmental/psychiatric disorders in 6-year-old children: Epidemiology and co-morbidity. Dev. Med. Child. Neurol. 38: 891–906.
Law, J., Boyle, J., Harris, F., Harkness, A., and Nye, C. (1998). Screening for speech and language delay: A systematic review of the literature. Health. Technol. Assess. 2: 1– 184.
Law, J., Boyle, J., Harris, F., and Harkness, A. N. C. (2000). Prevalence and natural history of primary speech and language delay: Findings from a systematic review of the literature. Int. J. Lang. Commun. Disord. 35: 165–188.
Merenstein, D., Egleston, B., and Diener-West, M. (2005). Lengths of stay and costs associated with children’s hospitals. Pediatrics 115: 839–844.
Newacheck, P., and Halfon, N. (1998). Prevalence and impact of disabling chronic conditions in childhood. Am. J. Public. Health. 88: 610–617.
Palfrey, J. S., Singer, J. D., Walker, D. K., and Butler, J. A. (1987). Early identification of children’s special needs: A study in five metropolitan communities. J. Pediatr. 111: 651–659.
Pharoah, P. O., Cooke, T., Johnson, M. A., King, R., and Mutch, L. (1998). Epidemiology of cerebral palsy in England and Scotland, 1984–9. Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal. Neonatal. Ed. 79: F21–F25.
Pulsifer, M. B., Hoon, A. H., Palmer, F. B., Gopalan, R., and Capute, A. J. (1994). Maternal estimates of developmental age in preschool children. J. Pediatr. 125: S18–24.
Shaywitz, S. E., Shaywitz, B. A., Fletcher, J. M., and Escobar, M. D. (1991). Prevalence of reading disability in boys and girls. Results of the Connecticut Longitudinal Study. JAMA 265: 725–726.
Sonnander, K. (1987). Parental developmental assessment of 18-month-old children: Reliability and predictive value. Dev. Med. Child. Neurol. 29: 351–362.
Stevenson, J., and Richman, N. (1976). The prevalence of language delay in a population of three-year-old children and its association with general retardation. Dev. Med. Child. Neurol. 18: 431–441.
Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. (2003). KIDS COUNT: The state of the children in Tennessee 2003. Nashville, TN.
Van Naarden, K., Decoufle, P., and Caldwell, K. (1999). Prevalence and characteristics of children with serious hearing impairment in metropolitan Atlanta, 1991–1993. Pediatrics 103: 570–575.
Walsh, K. K., Kastner, T., and Criscione, T. (1997). Characteristics of hospitalizations for people with developmental disabilities: Utilization, costs, and impact of care coordination. Am. J. Ment. Retard. 101: 505–520.
Wolraich, M. L., Hannah, J. N., Pinnock, T. Y., Baumgaertel, A., and Brown, J. (1996). Comparison of diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in a countywide sample. J. Am. Acad. Child. Adolesc. Psychiatry. 35: 319–324.
Zill, N. and Schoenborn, C. A. (1990). Developmental, learning, and emotional problems. Health of our nation’s children, United States, 1988. Adv. Data.: 1–18.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Petersen, M.C., Kube, D.A. & Palmer, F.B. High Prevalence of Developmental Disabilities in Children Admitted to a General Pediatric Inpatient Unit. J Dev Phys Disabil 18, 307–318 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-006-9018-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-006-9018-4