An Epidemiological Study of Chinese Children with Developmental Dyslexia

Abstract

Objective: The epidemiological studies of Chinese developmental dyslexia (DD) in China are still limited. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence rate, risk factors, and psychiatric comorbidities of Chinese DD in Guangzhou, a city in South China. Method: A total of 1661 students from second to fifth grades were recruited. The dyslexic students were identified by evaluating learning disability through the Pupil Rating Scale–Revised Screening for Learning Disability (PRS) scale by the head teachers and word recognition through the standard test. Students with a PRS score of <65 received the Raven’s test, and those with intelligence quotient scores below 80 in the Raven’s test were excluded. Psychiatric comorbidities were assessed by the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire completed by parents. Results: The prevalence rate of Chinese DD was 4.9% in Guangzhou city. There were significant differences in gender, the paternal educational level, and reading experience before the age of 6 years between the DD group and the non-DD group. Male gender (odds ratio [OR] = 4.17), low paternal educational level (p = 0.045), and lack of reading experience before the age of 6 years (OR = 1.99) were the risk factors for DD. The DD cases had a higher risk of hyperactivity and inattention (OR = 3.21). Conclusion: This study showed that the prevalence rate of DD was 4.9% in Guangzhou city. Male gender, low paternal educational level, and lack of reading experience before the age of 6 years were the risk factors for Chinese DD. The high comorbidity rate of hyperactivity and inattention in the Chinese DD population needs further evaluation.

Personality, Behavior Characteristics, and Life Quality Impact of Children with Dyslexia

“…Well-educated parents usually had children better than their peers in many aspects of language development and learning ability [24]. The higher the education level of parents, the easier it is for them to raise high-quality children [4]. In addition, parents with higher education levels and who are white-collar employees pay more attention to exchange and communication with their children, thus the parent-child relationship is relatively close, which is also observed in this study.…”

“…Children with dyslexia are often easy to be stimulated by the outside world in class, homework, or other activities, so that attention is difficult to last, with too much activity and impulsive performance. The dyslexic cases had a higher risk of hyperactivity and inattention (OR = 3.21) in a recent Chinese epidemiology study [4]. Attention disorder and hyperactivity often affect their class learning and reduce the speed and quality of their homework, which results in poor academic performance that is lower than their intelligence should achieve.…”

“…When dealing with children, they can persuade and educate in a milder way, rather than scolding or criticizing. The higher the parent's education levels, the better the family education atmosphere is, and the more the reading experience the children will have before age of six years [4]. Some studies have found that parents with low education level pay more attention to their children's academic performance, while the parents with high education level pay attention to all aspects of children's physical and mental development, and the parent-child relationship quality affects young children's physical and mental health [25,26].…”

“…The prevalence of dyslexia in Hong Kong is about 9.7% to 12.6%, according to a 2007 survey [3]. An epidemiological study on the children with Chinese developmental dyslexia was performed in Guangzhou, China in 2019, the reported prevalence rate was4.9%, boys had a higher rate of dyslexia than girls (OR = 4.17) [4].…”

The Prevalence of Dyslexia in Primary School Children and Their Chinese Literacy Assessment in Shantou, China

“…Apart from this, due to different methods, tests, and definitions adopted for diagnosis, there existed differences in the incidence of Chinese dyslexia reported in the literature [ 16 ]. Epidemiological surveys have reported that the prevalence rates of DD in Guangzhou (south China), Taipei (southeast China), Xinjiang (northwest China in Uyghur), and Qianjiang (middle China) are 5.4%, 9.7%, 7.0%, and 3.9%, respectively [ 14 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. However, these studies adopted inconsistent diagnostic criteria and confirmation tests for dyslexia to estimate the prevalence rate.…”