Cumulative Prenatal Risk Factors and Developmental Coordination Disorder in Young Children

ObjectivesTo examine the effect of cumulative prenatal risk factors (RFs) on the presence of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in young children.MethodsParticipants (N = 589, 338 boys, Mage = 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.ResultsResults 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).ConclusionsThese 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.