Associations between biological and sociodemographic risks for developmental vulnerability in twins at age 5: a population data linkage study in Western Australia

Gursimran Kaur Dhamrait; Daniel Christensen; Gavin Pereira; Catherine Louise Taylor

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038846

Associations between biological and sociodemographic risks for developmental vulnerability in twins at age 5: a population data linkage study in Western Australia

BMJ Open. 2020 Oct 16;10(10):e038846. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038846.

Authors

Gursimran Kaur Dhamrait^{1

2}, Daniel Christensen³, Gavin Pereira^{3

4}, Catherine Louise Taylor^{3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia gursimran.dhamrait@telethonkids.org.au.
² School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
³ Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of, and associations between, prenatal and perinatal risk factors and developmental vulnerability in twins at age 5.

Design: Retrospective cohort study using bivariate and multivariable logistic regression.

Setting: Western Australia (WA), 2002-2015.

Participants: 828 twin pairs born in WA with an Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) record from 2009, 2012 or 2015.

Main outcome measures: The AEDC is a national measure of child development across five domains. Children with scores <10th percentile were classified as developmentally vulnerable on, one or more domains (DV1), or two or more domains (DV2).

Results: In this population, 26.0% twins were classified as DV1 and 13.5% as DV2. In the multivariable model, risk factors for DV1 were maternal age <25 years (adjusted OR (aOR): 7.06, 95% CI: 2.29 to 21.76), child speaking a language other than English at home (aOR: 6.45, 95% CI: 2.17 to 19.17), male child (aOR: 5.08, 95% CI: 2.89 to 8.92), age younger than the reference category for the study sample (≥5 years 1 month to <5 years 10 months) at time of AEDC completion (aOR: 3.34, 95% CI: 1.55 to 7.22) and having a proportion of optimal birth weight (POBW) <15th percentile of the study sample (aOR: 2.06, 95% CI 1.07 to 3.98). Risk factors for DV2 were male child (aOR: 7.87, 95% CI: 3.45 to 17.97), maternal age <25 (aOR: 5.60, 95% CI: 1.30 to 24.10), age younger than the reference category (aOR: 5.36, 95% CI: 1.94 to 14.82), child speaking a language other than English at home (aOR: 4.65, 95% CI: 1.14 to 19.03), mother's marital status as not married at the time of twins' birth (aOR: 4.59, 95% CI: 1.13 to 18.55), maternal occupation status in the lowest quintile (aOR: 3.30, 95% CI: 1.11 to 9.81) and a POBW <15th percentile (aOR: 3.11, 95% CI: 1.26 to 7.64).

Conclusion: Both biological and sociodemographic risk factors are associated with developmental vulnerability in twins at 5 years of age.

Keywords: epidemiology; paediatrics; public health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Australia / epidemiology
Child
Child Development*
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Information Storage and Retrieval*
Male
Pregnancy
Retrospective Studies
Western Australia / epidemiology