ArticleBMJ global health2019
The D-score: a metric for interpreting the early development of infants and toddlers across global settings.
Article in BMJ global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Childhood stunting and cognitive development: a meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2025Pooled it
- Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements for children age 6-24 months: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of effects on developmental outcomes and effect modifiers.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Comparison of early growth and development in very preterm children in the Netherlands between the 1980s and 2000s.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Measuring child development at the 2-2½-year health and development review in England: a rapid scoping review of available tools.BMJ open · 2026Article
- The impact of an integrated nurturing care intervention to improve early childhood development outcomes in Nampula Province, Mozambique.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- A non-specialist worker delivered digital assessment of cognitive development (DEEP) in young children: A longitudinal validation study in rural India.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- Adaptation and Implementation of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) Tool in Ethiopia.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Feasibility and acceptability of implementing the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) package for children 0-3 years across three countries.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Validation of the Kidsights Measurement Tool: A parent-reported instrument to track children's development at the population level.PloS one · 2025Article
- Parental report of language, attention and executive functions at two years: correlational structure of measures and applications to prematurity.Wellcome open research · 2025Article
- Harmonizing measurements: establishing a common metric via shared items across instruments.Population health metrics · 2024Article
- Stability of neurodevelopmental trajectories in moderately late and early preterm children born 15 years apart.Pediatric research · 2024Article
- A Developmental Surveillance Score for Quantitative Monitoring of Early Childhood Milestone Attainment: Algorithm Development and Validation.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Protocol for validation of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) for children under 3 years of age in seven countries.BMJ open · 2023Article
- The creation of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) for children aged 0-3 years: combining subject matter expert judgements with big data.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Exploring the Effects of Environmental Factors on the Development of 0-4-Year Old Children in The Netherlands.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Africa is not a museum: the ethics of encouraging new parenting practices in rural communities in low-income and middle-income countries.BMJ global health · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionEarly childhood development can be described by an underlying latent construct. Global comparisons of children's development are hindered by the lack of a validated metric that is comparable across cultures and contexts, especially for children under age 3 years. We constructed and validated a new metric, the Developmental Score (D-score), using existing data from 16 longitudinal studies.
methodsStudies had item-level developmental assessment data for children 0-48 months and longitudinal outcomes at ages >4-18 years, including measures of IQ and receptive vocabulary. Existing data from 11 low-income, middle-income and high-income countries were merged for >36 000 children. Item mapping produced 95 'equate groups' of same-skill items across 12 different assessment instruments. A statistical model was built using the Rasch model with item difficulties constrained to be equal in a subset of equate groups, linking instruments to a common scale, the D-score, a continuous metric with interval-scale properties. D-score-for-age z-scores (DAZ) were evaluated for discriminant, concurrent and predictive validity to outcomes in middle childhood to adolescence.
resultsConcurrent validity of DAZ with original instruments was strong (average
conclusionThe D-score metric enables quantitative comparisons of early childhood development across ages and sets the stage for creating simple, low-cost, global-use instruments to facilitate valid cross-national comparisons of early childhood development.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.