The prenatal, perinatal and neonatal risk factors for children's developmental coordination disorder: A population study in mainland China

• Maternal age and threatened abortion during prenatal period were significantly associated with DCD.
• Fetal distress, preterm birth, chronic lung disease and newborn pathological jaundice have significant relationships with DCD.
• The practitioners should improve the assessment and monitoring of risk factors during prenatal, perinatal and neonatal for DCD.

We initially conducted a population-based study on developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in mainland China to explore the prenatal, perinatal and neonatal risk factors on DCD. A total of 4001 children were selected from 160 classes in 15 public nursery schools. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) was used to assess the children's motor function. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were estimated to determine the strength of association using a multilevel logistic regression model with a random intercept. Three hundred and thirty children out of 4001 subjects met the DSM-IV criteria for DCD, and 3671 children were non-DCD. Maternal age, threatened abortion, fetal distress during labor, preterm birth, chronic lung disease and newborn pathological jaundice were related with DCD (OR = 1.72, 2.72, 9.14, 5.17, 1.43, and 2.54, respectively, each p < 0.05). Considered collectively, these risk factors may provide clues to an etiology of DCD. Additionally, the practitioners of maternity and child health care should improve the assessment and monitoring of the prenatal, perinatal and neonatal risk factors for DCD.