A study on mental development of children born after earthquake in Ningqiang County of China

• Main Authors: Hui Li, Qian Su, Dongge Cai, Ning Jia, Yan Qin, Li Yang, Jinni Zhang, Qinghong Li, Yuanyuan Zhang, Samjida Majeed Padari, Monesh Kumar Sungkur, Zhongliang Zhu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2012-09-01
• Series: European Journal of Psychotraumatology
• Subjects: children; earthquake; development quotient; mental development index

Statement of the problem : Pregnant women with stress are at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. And prenatal stress (PNS) can influence newborn's mental development. Earthquake exposure is a special stressor for pregnant women. Ningqing County is one of the worst-hit areas of the Wenchuan Earthquake (8.0 magnitude) happened in Sichuan Province, China on 12 May 2008. To explore the related influencing factors of children's mental development whose mother exposed to the earthquake, we investigated the mental development of children born after the Wenchuan Earthquake in Ningqiang County. Methods : A total of 86 children aged 0–3 years were recruited in this study. They were randomly selected and were screened by “the mental developmental screening test (DST)” for children aged 0–6 years compiled by Children's Hospital of Fudan University. For ease of interpretation, children were classified in four different groups based on ages: 0-year-old; 1-years-old; 2-years-old; and 3-years-old. Results : Among the 86 children, there were 54 boys and 32 girls. The mean Development Quotient (DQ) score was 98.59±2.08. Twenty two (including 18 boys and 4 girls) children's DQ score was <85, and they shared the percentage of 25.6. The mean Mental Development Index (MI) score was 97.35±1.64. Seventeen children's MI score was less than 85, and they shared the percentage of 19.8. The incidence of DQ < 85 was significantly higher than the national urban average (14.9%) (p = 0.006). The incidence of DQ < 85 was 33.3% among boys, which was higher than 12.5% among girls (p = 0.032). There was no significant difference in the incidence of MI < 85 compared with the national urban average (6.0%) (p=0.35). DQ and MI scores, the rate of DQ < 85 and MI < 85, were not significantly different between mother's schooling years ≤9 years and more than 9 years. There was no significant difference among all groups by age in terms of DQ and MI scores. Conclusions : Earthquake possibly contributes to the retardation of children born after Wenchuan Earthquake in Ningqiang County of China.