Child Disability in the Primorsky Region

Abstract

Introduction: Along with incidence and mortality rates, the child disability rate is a leading indicator that describes, on the one hand, the state of health of the child population, and, on the other hand, the situation of children in the country, the level of development and effectiveness of governmental and non-governmental systems providing care and assistance to disabled children, as well as services responsible for implementation of disability prevention policies among the child population. Objective: To analyze child disability in the Primorsky Region in 2017–2020. Materials and methods: We have examined disability in children of the Primorsky Region based on information of the Federal State Statistics Service (statistical forms No. 7, 7A, 7D, and 7F) and the report of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection on disability in the child population of the Russian Federation for 2019. The data for 2017–2020 was analyzed in Microsoft Excel using methods of descriptive statistics. Results: We observed a general trend towards a decrease in primary and recurrent child disability accompanied by a gradual decline in the number of children rejected to qualify for disability for the period under study. The ratio of boys to girls among the disabled was 60 to 40. Children aged 0–4 (39.25 %) prevailed among those qualified for disability for the first time in their life while mental and behavioral disorders (26.78 %) were its most common causes. Most children undergoing the repeated disability determination process were 8 to 14 years of age (35.39 %) with congenital malformations as the main reason. Conclusion: Our findings show that despite a promising declining trend in primary and recurrent child disability in the Primorsky Region, the total number of disabled children is growing constantly. Overall, the disability rate rose by 19.2 per 10,000 children under the age of 18 (13.4 %) in 2017–2020, which can be explained by children growing up, moving to older age groups, while other children are being acknowledged as disabled.