Indicators of primary disability in children with mental disorders and autism in St. Petersburg and the Voronezh region

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mental disorders (including autism) in the Russian Federation rank first among all classes of diseases that form the primary disability in children. Analysis of the state and dynamics of the indicators of primary childhood disability due to this pathology, considering age-specific features, is the basis for further development of medical and social expertise, rehabilitation, and disability prevention.
 AIMS: To analyze the state and dynamics of indicators of primary childhood disability caused by mental disorders and autism in St. Petersburg and the Voronezh Oblast.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study enrolled children who were recognized to have a disability for the first time caused by mental disorders and autism in St. Petersburg and Voronezh Oblast for 2016–2021. Data sources included statistical collections of the Federal State Statistics Service and forms of state statistical reporting 7-D (sobes). The study is longitudinal and continuous. Analytical, documentary, data copying, statistical, and graphic research methods were employed.
 RESULTS: Indicators of primary childhood disability caused by mental disorders and autism are important criteria for the effectiveness of rehabilitation (habilitation) measures. The regional variability and growth of the number and level of IDD among the residents of the Russian Federation was revealed, reaching a maximum in St. Petersburg in 2021 (8.5 per 10 thousand pediatric population) and in the Voronezh region in 2019 (8.2 per 10 thousand pediatric population), which exceeded the all-Russian indicators. The level of autism-related primary childhood disability in 2016–2021 varied in the following ranges: from 0.5 to 0.7 in St. Petersburg (1.4-fold increase), from 2.4 to 1.2 in Voronezh Oblast (2-fold decrease), and from 1.4 to 2.0 per 10,000 children population (1.4-fold increase) in the Russian Federation. The results revealed the dependence of fluctuations in the rates of primary childhood disability caused by mental disorders and autism on changes in the normative legal framework for establishing disability.
 CONCLUSION: The data obtained on the regional peculiarities of the dynamics and state of primary childhood disability caused by mental disorders and autism in St. Petersburg and Voronezh Oblast should be used to develop priority directions of medical and social assistance for the prevention of primary childhood disability at the level of regional healthcare organizations.