title: Screening of neurodevelopmental delays in four communities of Mexico and Cuba.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nursing personnel applied a computerized evaluation instrument, Neuropediatric Development (NPED), and compared the prevalence of deviations from normal neurodevelopment in four communities of two Latin American countries, Mexico and Cuba. At the same time the feasibility of introducing this tool into Mexican local health centers was assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  The NPED screening tool was applied to 400 children 1-60 months old from two suburban and one urban communities of Mexico and one urban community of Cuba.
  
  
  METHODS
  The NPED instrument was developed at the Neurosciences Centre of Cuba (Santos, & Pérez-Ábalo, 2011; Santos, Pérez-Abalo, & Álvarez, 2007), and explores three neurodevelopmental areas: language/communication, psychomotor, and sensory maturation (hearing/vision).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Global (21.5%), language (16.5%), psychomotor (5.8%), and sensory (vision/audition; 2.3%/7%) failures were observed. Among Mexican communities, apart from the hearing test in which the urban community showed a significantly higher percentage of failures (p < .001), there were no other significant differences. When compared, the Cuban community showed a significantly higher proportion of audition failures in relation to the Mexican communities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of deviations from normal neurodevelopment was highly similar between both countries, and the NPED system fulfils the necessary requisites for mass screening to be applied by nursing staff at a primary care level.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México, Toluca, Estado de México, México.
authors.forename: Francia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guadarrama-Celaya
authors.forename: Gloria A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Otero-Ojeda
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bernardo Pliego-Rivero
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Rosario Porcayo-Mercado
authors.forename: Josefina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ricardo-Garcell
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cecilia Pérez-Ábalo
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003462:Cuba; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008800:Mexico; D015995:Prevalence; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology