Abstract
Purpose : To identify the prevalence of handicapping disabilities among children up to 15 years of age and their epidemiological pattern in the eastern part of Jeddah. Methods : In a population-based cross-sectional household survey in the eastern Jeddah area, Saudi Arabia, a multistage sampling method was applied to screen children in 875 houses using the ten questions survey tool for identification of disabilities. Further information collected for detected disabilities included possible risk factors, cause of the disability as perceived by the family and services previously provided to the child. Results : A total of 137 cases of disability were detected giving a point prevalence rate of 36.7 per 1000 children. Twenty-nine children (21.2%) were discovered for the first time during the survey. The majority of cases were male (57.7%) and the mean age for all cases was 10 years (SD = 5.5) with no case detected under one year of age. Disabled children were in the fourth or fifth birth order among their brothers and sisters and 47 (34%) of them were recorded as a second or third disability in the same family. Number of disabilities in the same child varied widely: 59% of cases had a single disability, 22% had two conditions and 19% had three or more conditions. Speech, motor and mental disabilities ranked top of the disabilities detected by the ten-question tool. The commonest cause of these disabilities as perceived by the family was hereditary diseases followed by childhood illnesses. Significant risk factors associated to these conditions included larger number of children in the family, older age of either parent, histories of handicapping conditions in the original families of either of the parents and presence of handicapping condition in the mothers. Families reported lack of services provided to their disabled children in the community. Conclusions : The survey tool managed to document, successfully, a prevalence rate of childhood disabilities in the community with a general picture of their types and suspected causes which is quite comparable to that found in Saudi Arabia. It also reported a low service delivery for these disabilities and identified some risk factors related to their occurrence. It is recommended to apply this survey method with certain modifications to suit the local culture in Saudi Arabia. Improvement of the services rendered to handicapped children in Jeddah is also recommended.