Caracterización de pacientes con alteración de neurodesarrollo según la escala de Conners en tres centros educativos con capacidades especiales de las provincias del Cañar y Azuay. Ecuador octubre 2024 - febrero 2025.

Abstract

Background: Neurodevelopmental disorders are a major societal concern due to the difficulties individuals face with learning, attention, memory, and other areas. Objective: To identify the characteristics associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in children and teenagers from 3 to 17 years at three special education schools in the provinces of Cañar and Azuay, Ecuador, October 2024 – February 2025. Methodology: A non-experimental, quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in three special education schools in the provinces of Cañar and Azuay, using the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC, its Spanish acronym) socioeconomic status stratification form and the Conners Test on a sample of 200 participants. Results: Among the 200 children and adolescents, 55.5% were male, and 46.5% and 41% belonged to the typical middle and lower-middle socioeconomic levels, respectively. Learning difficulties were reported in 36% of the participants, while anxiety was the least common condition, at 6.5%. Learning difficulties were more prevalent among females (20%; p = 0.018), and anxiety-related issues were more prevalent among females (5%; p = 0.015). Conclusions and Relevance: Male sex and typical middle- and lower-middle socioeconomic status are important characteristics of the studied population, with learning difficulties being the most common issue. However, other variables require further study. Keywords: demographic, age, neurodevelopment, socioeconomic