Developmental delay occurs when a child exhibits a significant delay in the acquisition of milestones or skills, in one or more domains of development (i.e., gross motor, fine motor, speech/language, cognitive, personal/social, or activities of daily living).
Objectives: present study aims to investigate the most common risk factors of The delayed development in children under four years attending Sohag GeneralHospital.
Subjects and methods: A case control study was conducted in Sohag General Hospital during the period from January 2015 to June 2016 on children attending Pediatric, Physiotherapy and phoniatric clinicsin Sohag General Hospital, Sohag Governorate. The sample size was 150 cases and 150 controls. One hundred and fifty children (aged 1.5 month to 48 months) diagnosed with developmental delay by a specialist or/and a developmental pediatrician were recruited as cases.
Results: In the logistic regression model, the odds of developing delayed milestones is significantly higher among children with cyanosis (OR = 16.391), low birth weight (OR = 6.147), parental consanguinity (OR = 5.489), 1^st birth order (OR = 4.048), urban residence (OR = 3.702) and history of neonatal jaundice (OR = 2.518).
Conclusion: The urban children, first children and from few number of family members were more frequently at risk for developmental delay.