The Relationships between the Problems with Somatic Health in Preschool Children and Disorders of Psychomotor Development

Abstract

Introduction. Multiple studies show the presence of interconnection between co-morbidity and psychomotor development disorders in children. The aim of the study. To identify the relationships between the problems with somatic health in preschool children (3-7 years old) and disorders of their psychomotor development. Materials and methods. Clinical and laboratory examination of 70 children was carried out in a randomized manner with preliminary stratification according to the presence of psychomotor development disorders regarding the somatic and infectious diseases and birth defects they had at the time of the examination and in the anamnesis. The examined group consisted of 70 children of preschool age (3-7 years) with psychomotor development disorders. Statistical processing included calculations using R. E. Fisher’s angular transformation and correlation analysis. Results. The results of the multiple conducted researches prove that the frequency of comorbidities, primarily somatic, in children with psychomotor development disorders is higher than in the general population. The combined influence of adverse environmental conditions, perinatal factors, nutritional disorders, nutritional behavior, reduced motor activity, neuroinflammation, immune response disorders, abnormalities in the quantitative and qualitative species composition of the intestinal microbiota, the phenomenon of an abnormally high microbial load on the organism, violations of interaction in the brain-gut axis, autonomic and mitochondrial dysfunctions, oxidative stress, sensory hypersensitivity, behavioral problems, sleep disorders, increased anxiety and irritability inherent in this children, can be the main reason for this. It is also worth to mention the presence of atopy and dyspeptic manifestations in many examined children, which, presumably, can be components of the food allergy complex of symptoms. It is worth noting, that in most of the subgroups we selected, there were children with physical development disorders, in all subgroups cases of infectious diseases were found in the anamnesis of children, as well as burdened family and allergic anamnesis, which can be caused by both adverse environmental factors and peculiarities, inherent in children with psychomotor development disorders. Among somatic diseases, respiratory ailments dominate in all studied subgroups. There is also a significant share of children with a burdened family and allergy history, atopic dermatitis, lesions of the ears and throat. We found full dependence, as well as medium strength and weak direct reliable correlation between somatic and infectious diseases, present in a significant part of the examined children with psychomotor development disorders, burdened allergic anamnesis and burdened family anamnesis (which conforms with a higher susceptibility to allergic diseases in children with psychomotor development disorders, in particular with mental retardation and ASD) in all subgroups, and also physical development disorders. It is necessary to include a personalized approach into the complex of rehabilitation of children with psychomotor development disorders, with simultaneous correction of existing comorbid pathological symptoms and neurological disorders, inherent in this category of children. Conclusions. Correlation between respiratory infections and a number of somatic and infectious diseases, disorders of physical development, burdened allergic and family history among the examined children in all the subgroups selected by us, which consists in the detection of complete dependence and a reliable correlation of varying strength, have been established.