title: [Early clinical indicators of pervasive development disorders].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pervasive development disorders (PDD) conditions characterised by deficits in many areas of behaviour, such as delay in social interactions, abnormalities in verbal and non-verbal communication, and the presence of the restrictive and repetitive interests. The relevance of early diagnosis is based on the fact that early intervention could have a beneficial effect on the long term outcome. Due to the increase of the PDD diagnosis in the recent years, we aimed to study easily detectable clinical traits during the first year of life, leading to an improvement in the diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective and retrospective study was conducted on 37 PDD patients and 69 healthy controls. Somatometric and neurological examinations were performed and a questionnaire with several variables from the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) completed by the parents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The male to female ratio (OR: 3.87; 95% CI: 1.23-12.96), delay in the first disyllabic words (PDD=20.1±23 months vs Control=10.8±10.3 months; P<.01), absence of visual contact (OR: 0.05; 95% CI: 0.01-0.29), the lack of response to attention call (OR: 0.12; 95% CI: 0.02-0.67), and the increase in tantrums (OR: 6.37; 95% CI: 2.39-17.34), were significantly higher in the PDD group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The differences detected between groups can not been considered as a diagnostic tool of certainty in this time period, however, we believe that they should be considered in the context of maturational delay, as alarm signs in infants and toddlers, as well as suggesting the existence of an early pervasive development phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neuropediatría, Hospital Universitario de San Juan de Alicante, San Juan de Alicante, España.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: García-Ron
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carratalá
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Andreo-Lillo
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Mestre-Ricote
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moya
mesh_terms: D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies