Determinism of indicators of child disability due to mental disorders in the conditions of its registered and calculated level

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify the presence of deterministic rates of childhood disability due to mental disorders in the context of its registered (recorded) and calculated levels. Material and methods. We examined associations between registered, counted and uncounted disability and integral measures of children with mental disorders in 0–14, 15–17 and 0–17years groups. In addition, health resource and activity measures, mental disorder morbidity rates, demographic indicators and their association with child disability rates were examined. Period of analysis was from 2010 to 2020. The study is analytic, non-personalized, retrospective, not randomised. Results. In the Arkhangelsk region, in the 0–14 years group the rate of calculated total disability was on average 55.9% higher than the rate of registered disability. The underreporting of total disability was higher than in the 15–17 years group. We found no significant links between demographic, socio-economic, health resource indicators and the level of official childhood disability. Limitations of the study. To avoid errors of extrapolation, caution should be exercised when attempting to scale the results obtained in the study to the population of other regions or the country as a whole, other types of disability, separate age and gender groups, and individual cases of disability. Conclusions. In the Arkhangelsk region there is underreporting of childhood disability caused by mental disorders. The levels of children’s disability due to mental disorders recorded by official statistics have no significant relationship with indicators reflecting the demographic, socio-economic situation, resources and health care activities. The estimated and unrecorded levels of disability are found to be significantly associated with indicators of socioeconomic status, health care resources, and the overall incidence of mental disorders.