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Can a general health surveillance between birth and 10 months identify children with mental disorder at 1½ year?

A case-control study nested in cohort CCC 2000

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Abstract

Mental health surveillance in infancy was studied in an existing child health surveillance programme with child psychiatric disorder at 1½ year as the outcome. Methods Children considered of concern by community health nurses were cases in a case control study nested in the Copenhagen Child Cohort (CCC 2000). Outcome was mental health status at 1½ year assessed by clinical and standardised strategies, including videotape recordings, parent interviews and the instruments: CBCL 1½-5, ITSCL, CHAT, Bayley Scales of Infant Development II, PC ERA and PIR-GAS. Results The positive predictive value of concern in the first 10 months of living was 24% (CI 17.0–31.9), the negative predictive value was 85% (CI 77.9–89.6) and the sensitivity was 56% (CI 42.4–69.0). Concern about development was significantly associated with the child having a neuro-developmental disorder at 1½ year, and concern about mother–child relationship was associated with emotional, behavioural, eating, and sleeping disturbances. Conclusions A general health surveillance program seems to have potentials to identify infants at risk for mental health problems provided standardised measures and specific training of the involved health professionals.

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Abbreviations

BSID II:

The Bayley Scales of Infant DevelopmentII

CBCL1½-5:

The Child Behaviour Check List 1½-5

CHAT:

Checklist for Autism in Toddlers

CCC2000:

Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000

DC 0-3:

Diagnostic Classification Zero to Three

ICD10:

International Classification of Diseases

ITSCL:

The Infant Toddler Symptom Check List

MEI:

Manheim Eltern Interview

PC ERA:

The Parent Child Early Relational Assessment

PIR-GAS:

Parent Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale

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Acknowledgements

The study has been supported by following foundations: Egmontfonden, Lundbeckfonden, Gangstedfonden, Dagmar Marshalls Fond, Ville Heises Legat, Enkefru C.Hermansens Mindelegat, Beatrice Surovall Haskells Fund, Helsefonden, and The Minestry of Social affairs. Thanks to the public health nurses in the following municipalities: Ballerup, Brøndby, Herlev, Søllerød, Tårnby and Vallensbæk Thanks to Heering K, Kaas-Nielsen S, Samberg V, for their assistance in the child assessments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Centre, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Glostrup, 2600, Denmark

    Anne Mette Skovgaard, Tine Houmann, Eva Christiansen, Else Marie Olsen & Susanne Lassen Landorph

  2. Research Centre for Prevention and Health, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Glostrup, Denmark

    Else Marie Olsen & Torben Jørgensen

  3. Department for Research and Development in Health Care, Copenhagen, The Capital Region, Denmark

    Anne Lichtenberg

Authors
  1. Anne Mette Skovgaard
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  2. Tine Houmann
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  3. Eva Christiansen
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  4. Else Marie Olsen
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  5. Susanne Lassen Landorph
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  6. Anne Lichtenberg
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  7. Torben Jørgensen
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Correspondence to Anne Mette Skovgaard.

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The Copenhagen Child Cohort CCC 2000, formerly named Copenhagen County Child Cohort CCCC 2000.

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Skovgaard, A.M., Houmann, T., Christiansen, E. et al. Can a general health surveillance between birth and 10 months identify children with mental disorder at 1½ year?. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 17, 290–298 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-007-0666-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-007-0666-4

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