Towards new reference for the Dutch development instrument
conference paper
Aims The Dutch Development Instrument (DDI; in Dutch: Van Wiechenonderzoek) is used in the Dutch Youth Health Care (YHC) to monitor child development from birth to the age of 4 years. Reference values for the DDI, which indicate that approximately 90% of children achieve each milestone at the recommended age, were published in 1981. Aim of this study is to evaluate the reference values of the DDI in a Dutch population, to investigate whether new reference values are needed. Materials and methods Anonymized DDI results, collected from 19,840 children born in the period 2011-2013 in the YHC in The Hague, were compared with reference values from previous research. In addition, it was examined whether there are relevant (≥5%) differences between boys and girls. Results The proportion of children achieving a milestone at the recommended age ranged between 81% and 100%. At approximately half of the milestones (32/71; 45%), ≥98% of the children achieved the milestone at the recommended age. For 8/71 (11%) milestones, <90% of the children achieved the milestone at the recommended age. About a quarter of the milestones showed a relevant difference between boys and girls. In most cases, the proportion of girls achieving a milestone was higher than the proportion of boys. Conclusion There is a wide variation in the proportion of children achieving a milestone at the recommended age. Therefore, it is important to develop (sometimes also sex-specific) reference values for broader age-groups that are available to YHC-professionals.
TNO Identifier
977853
Publisher
Conventus Credo
Source title
21st EUSUHM (European Union for School and University Health and Medicine) Congress School and Adolescent Health Priorities - Rethinking, Redefining, Responding, 29th Sept-2nd Oct 2022, Split, Coratia
Place of publication
Zagreb
Pages
20
Files
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