Predictors of Severe and Permanent Disability in Children Evaluated in Health Boards: A Single-Center Study

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the severe and permanent disability of the children evaluated in the disabled health boards and to evaluate the predictors of severe and permanent disability. Material and Methods: Records of 1482 children who were referred to a university hospital health board for disability between the years 2013-2018 were screened retrospectively. Results: More than half (52.2%) of the children had a single psychopathology. 83.5% of the cases were severely disabled and 66.5% were permanently disabled. Severely disabled children were significantly more likely to have psychiatric, pediatric, neurological, orthopedic and otorhinolaringologic disorders. Permanent disability was significantly more frequent among patients with pediatric, ophthalmologic and cardiac disorders while children with psychopathologies were significantly less likely to have permanent disability. Mental retardation/intellectual developmental disorder levels differed in rates of permanent disability with pair-wise comparisons revealing that severe mental retardation/intellectual developmental disorder was the main factor. Severe disability was significantly more common among children younger than 8 years while permanent disability was more common among children >3 years. Children with psychopathology were 4.1 times more likely to have severe disability and this further increased to 15.3 for those with mental retardation/intellectual developmental disorder. Conclusion: This is the first study to evaluate the factors that affecting the decisions of permanent and severe disabilities in disability health boards. Comprehensive results have been achieved despite low generalizability. To provide consistent reports, further and multicenter studies on factors associated with severe and permanent disabilities in children are needed.