Infant Sociality Performance And Intellectual Development At 18 Month Of Age: A Cohort Study

Objectives To analyze the early life factors that influence intellectual development at 18 month of age. To further explore the relationships between infant sociality performance and later intellectual development at 18 month of age.Methods The 3-month-old infants who had routine checkups when visiting the Maternal and Child Health Centers of Ma’anshan city of Anhui Province were recruited as the study participants. Sociality performance were assessed when the subjects respectively were 3-month-old, 6-month-old, 9-month-old and 12-month-old by using the self-designed Infant Sociality Performance Questionnare(ISPQ). Intellectual development was assessed using developmental screening test for child under six(DST). Meanwhile, the relevant information was collected. Logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the possible factors(such as pregnancy intention, reproductive age, gestational age, breastfeeding and so on) affecting intellectual development at 18 month of age, and after adjusting on potential confounders, examine the relationship between infant sociality performance and later intellectual development at 18 month of age.Results The score of development quotient and mental index were 99.17±12.59 and 99.81±12.64. Prevalence of lower DQ in boys(16.5%) was higher than girls(8.8%), and prevalence of lower MI in boys(15.6%) was higher than girls(8.8%), the differences were statistically significant(χ2=18.593,P<0.01;χ2=15.908,P<0.01). Younger father and older mothers were risk factors for lower intellectual development(odds ratio(RR)= 2.463, 95% confidence interval(CI): 1.224~4.953, and RR=1.545, 95%CI: 1.002~2.383). Breast feeding for 6 months and pregnancy well-prepared were protective factors for lower intellectual development(RR= 0.585, CI: 0.376-0.910 and RR=0.536, 95%CI: 0.325-0.882) Prevalence of sociality performance developmental delay was 13.1%~17.4% at 3-month-old, 6-month-old, 9-month-old and 12-month-old infants. There were significant positive correlations between the score of sociality performance at four age groups and DQ at 18 month of age(r=0.124, 0.134, 0.186,0.215, separately, all P<0.001), MI at 18 month of age(r=0.100, 0.119, 0.160, 0.188, separately, all P<0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of taking the lower score of sociality performance at four age groups to predict lower DQ at 18 month of age were 24.41%, 30.0%, 31.08%, 35.46% and 88.41%, 86.06%, 82.34%, 85.02%. And the sensitivity and specificity of taking the lower score of sociality performance at four age groups to predict lower MI at 18 month of age were 19.33%, 29.63%, 31.25%, 30.47% and 87.66%, 85.90%, 82.31%, 84.16%.Conclusions The influence factors of intellectual development at 18 month of age were reproductive age of parents, pregnancy intention, baby’s sex and breast-feeding duration. There is a high prevalence of sociality performance developmental delay. There were positive correlations between the score of sociality performance and intellectual development at 18 month of age. Take the lower score of sociality performance to predict intellectual development at 18 month of age shower lower sensitive and higher specificity.