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Concurrent Validity of Ages and Stages Questionnaires in Preterm Infants
Pediatrics, 07/10/2012
Simard MN et al. – Preterm infants with developmental delays at 12 months’ corrected age (CA) are not adequately identified with the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ). At 24 months’ CA, the ASQ identifies mental delays but not psychomotor delays. Additional measures should be used to increase yield of detecting at–risk preterm infants.
Methods- With a cross-sectional design involving 2 observations at 12 and 24 months’ CA, 124 and 112 preterm infants were assessed.
- Infants were born between May 2004 and April 2006 at 29 to 36 GW.
- The ASQ and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were used.
- Concurrent validity was calculated by using k coefficient, sensitivity, and specificity.
- At 12 months’ CA, the ASQ did not perform well in identifying infants with mental delay.
- Agreement and specificity (0.90–0.97) were better for the psychomotor scale, but the sensitivity remained insufficient (0.25–0.52).
- At 24 months, the ASQ had good sensitivity (0.75–0.92) and specificity (0.55–0.78) for detecting mental delays.
- Results remained unsatisfactory for detecting motor delays (sensitivity = 0.31–0.50; specificity = 0.73–0.92).