Screening for Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Japanese 18- and 36-Month Health Check-Ups: Utility and Reproducibility of the ESSENCE-Q.

Authors

Yuhei Hatakenaka, Koutaro Hachiya, Christopher Gillberg

Published in

Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Jul 12, 2026. Epub Jul 12, 2026.

Abstract

The ESSENCE Questionnaire (ESSENCE-Q) helps detect early neurodevelopmental disorder signs across multiple developmental domains for timely intervention. We evaluated the feasibility, reliability, accuracy and reproducibility of ESSENCE-Q in 18- and 36-month Japanese infants and toddlers.
Longitudinal data from 1373 children who participated in 18- and/or 36-month health check-up were analysed. ESSENCE-Q was completed independently by mothers (ESSENCE-Q-M), public health nurses (ESSENCE-Q-N) and psychologists (ESSENCE-Q-P). Its effectiveness was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves, and optimal cut-off values were established.
The overall neurodevelopmental disorder prevalence was 11.2%. The internal consistency of ESSENCE-Q was good. ESSENCE-Q-P demonstrated the highest performance at 18 months. Both ESSENCE-Q-N and ESSENCE-Q-P demonstrated excellent performance at 36 months. ESSENCE-Q-M is not sufficient for standalone use.
ESSENCE-Q is a highly useful and reproducible screening tool for professionals for 18- and 36-month check-ups. ESSENCE-Q completed by mothers should be supplemented with professional assessments.

PMID:
42437453
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Jul 2026.

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