Validity and clinical utility of children development assessement using milestones reported by mothers.

INTRODUCTION: The monitoring of infants development during preventive care visits to identify children whose development is concerning for delay is an essential part of pediatric practice. STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine the validity and clinical utility of developmental milestones reported by mothers in assessment of children development compared with the outcomes of BSID-II (Bayley Scales of Infant Development--second edition). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The cohort recruited prenatally, included 384 children. The Mental and Motor Scales of BSID-II were administered to each child at the end of the 12th, 24th and 36th month of life. When children were 3 years old, mothers were questioned about their child's age at attainment of 8 significant developmental milestones. RESULTS: Sensitivity for the developmental milestones compared with score on the motor and mental scales of the BSID-II varied from 25.0% to 75.0%, specificity from 54.1% to 80.2%. The all of analysed milestones were characterized by low positive predictive value and rather high the negative one. CONCLUSION: Parent report developmental milestones are a better tool for excluding those children who attain milestones rapidly, as a group with low risk of developmental delays, than in identifying children whose development is suspected of being delayed.