Cumulative Prenatal Risk Factors and Developmental Coordination Disorder in Young Children

Stephanie Babij; Maeghan E James; Scott Veldhuizen; Christine Rodriguez; David Price; Matthew Kwan; John Cairney

doi:10.1007/s10995-023-03804-3

Cumulative Prenatal Risk Factors and Developmental Coordination Disorder in Young Children

Matern Child Health J. 2024 Feb;28(2):267-273. doi: 10.1007/s10995-023-03804-3. Epub 2023 Nov 15.

Authors

Stephanie Babij¹, Maeghan E James¹, Scott Veldhuizen^{1

2}, Christine Rodriguez¹, David Price², Matthew Kwan^{2

3}, John Cairney^{4

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
³ Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada.
⁴ Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. j.cairney@uq.edu.au.
⁵ Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. j.cairney@uq.edu.au.
⁶ School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia. j.cairney@uq.edu.au.
⁷ Health and Well-Being Centre for Research Innovation, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia. j.cairney@uq.edu.au.

PMID: 37966560
DOI: 10.1007/s10995-023-03804-3

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the effect of cumulative prenatal risk factors (RFs) on the presence of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in young children.

Methods: Participants (N = 589, 338 boys, M_age = 4.5 ± 0.5 years) were from a larger cohort study, the Coordination and Activity Tracking in Children (CATCH). Motor coordination was assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children- 2nd Edition. Children were classified as at risk for DCD (DCDr) based on European Academy of Childhood Disability guidelines. RFs were obtained through a parent-completed survey. A multiple logistic regression was conducted to examine the effect of the RFs on DCD.

Results: Results showed that the odds of a child having DCDr are significantly higher with a greater total number of prenatal RFs, after adjustment for mother's age at child's birth, child's sex, child's age, marital status and total annual household income (OR = 1.48, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: These findings warrant further investigation into the cumulative impact of multiple prenatal RFs and whether specific combinations of RFs might be more strongly linked to DCD than others. These results provide additional insight into possible causes and prevention of DCD.

Keywords: DCD; Maternal health; Prenatal health; Prenatal risk factors.

MeSH terms

Child
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Motor Skills Disorders* / epidemiology
Motor Skills Disorders* / etiology
Multivariate Analysis
Pregnancy
Risk Factors