A community ­based cross sectional study on developmental delay and its determinants amongst under two year old children in an Urbanized Village of Delhi

Introduction: Development is the process by which each child evolves from helpless infancy to independent adulthood Developmental delay if detected during early years of life can be prevented from causing further damage. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted in Aliganj, urban field practice area of Vardhmann Mahavir Medical College, Delhi. A pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection, growth was assessed using WHO growth charts and Developmental delay was assessed by Ages and Stages Questionnaire, 3rd edition (ASQ-3). Data was entered into excel and analysis was done in SPSS. Results: Out of 210 children studied, 50 (23.8%) children were underweight, 46 (21.9%) were stunted and 37 (17.6%) children were wasted and 10 (4.8%) had developmental delay. Illilterate father (p value 0.012), low birth weight child (p value= 0.001), place of delivery ( p value = 0.049) underweight (p value =0.001), stunting ( p value =0.003) and wasting (0.003) were found to be significantly associated with developmental delay. Conclusion: Developmental delay is associated with underweight stunting and wasting among children