ASQ-3 developmental outcomes at six months in a Bulgarian infant cohort: a cross-cultural comparison with U.S. norms.
Bulgarian infants' six-month developmental scores closely resemble U.S. normative benchmarks.
ASQ-3 developmental outcomes at six months in a Bulgarian infant cohort: a cross-cultural comparison with U.S. norms.
Early developmental screening relies heavily on U.
This study examined Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) outcomes at six months in a Bulgarian infant cohort in comparison with established U.
In this cross-sectional study, 155 infants (six months chronological or corrected age) were assessed using the ASQ-3 during routine pediatric visits.
In contrast, infants with birth weight <2,500 g demonstrated moderate-to-large effects across multiple domains ( d = -0.63 to -0.88), particularly in Gross Motor and Personal-Social functioning.
Differences related to gestational age were not clinically meaningful after correction for age.
A small female advantage was observed in Communication ( d = 0.37).
ASQ-3 outcomes at six months suggest a high degree of cross-cultural similarity in this Southeastern European infant cohort.
Variability in developmental outcomes in the present cohort appeared more strongly associated with biological risk factors than with cross-cultural contextual variation during early infancy.
These findings support the use of ASQ-3 in the Bulgarian clinical context and highlight the importance of integrating perinatal risk factors into early developmental surveillance.