NDDs in children, a critical public health issue in valley: Research

Srinagar, Feb 07: Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in children aged 0-18 years in Kashmir is a significant unrecognized public health problem and is revealed by extensive population-based prospective research, conducted for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir.
The research done by a group of doctors was published recently by Neurology India, a highly-impact journal in the field of medical sciences.
Neurodevelopmental disorders are a diverse group of conditions due to physical, learning, or behavioral impairment and these conditions begin during the early developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.
The research was cross-sectional population-based and data was collected from the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), a national health program aiming at early identification and early intervention for children from birth to 18 years to cover 4 ‘D’s viz. Defects at birth, Deficiencies, Diseases, and Development delays including disability.
“The operational guidelines of the RBSK program were followed to reach all the target groups of children for health screening,” said Dr Suhail Naik, who is one of the pioneers of the study.
During the study, they screened 29,680 children and found that 663 children had neurodevelopmental disorders with a prevalence of 16.64 per 1,000 children.
Those children who were found during screening as a “probable case” of neurodevelopmental disorders were further analyzed by specific diagnostic tests and DSM 5 criteria were applied.
“In our study, we found the most common neurodevelopmental disorder was Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder with a prevalence of 3.8 per 1,000 population followed by autistic spectrum disorder at 3 per 1,000 population,” Dr Naik said.
The study revealed that the prevalence of Language and Speech Delay is 2.7 per 1,000 and Neuromotor Impairment including cerebral palsy 1.2 per 1,000.
Dr Naik further added that the study identifies that Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in children aged 0-18 years is a significant public health problem and all efforts should be taken to diagnose them early so that early interventions can positively impact the developmental trajectory of affected kids.
He said the high cumulative prevalence (16.64) of Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder (ADHD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), language delay, Neuromotor impairment-cerebral palsy (NMI-CP), and epilepsies, although comparable to the published literature, deserves intensified population-based screening, early detection by national program RBSK, and early intervention at District Early Intervention Centers (DEIC).
He said that the various domains of development include gross motor, fine motor, language and hearing, and social behavior; these domains are complex and inter-related.
Children with developmental delay (DD) and developmental disabilities are at greater risk of suboptimal health, education attainment and well-being than children without disabilities.
The senior doctor said this is the first research in Jammu and Kashmir and parents should be aware about the neurodevelopmental disorders.
“There is a need to screen children if parents feel deviation in children. The government should also take measures to prevent the same among children,” he said.
Naik said therefore, to ameliorate the symptoms of ASD, the first step is to increase and intensify social interaction with suspected or diagnosed kids. Interaction by different family members is essential to get them engaged and to develop verbal and non-verbal communication.