OBJECTIVETo explore the epidemiological status of disabilities on vision impairment (VI), hearing loss (HL), mental retardation (MR), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and motor disorder (MD) in aged 0-6 years old children in Beijing.

METHODSA total of 28 738 children under 7 years old were recruited from permanent residents of Beijing City by 2-phase cluster sampling. The screening procedure was 2-phase, and the diagnosis criteria were developed by the experts group.

RESULTSThe overall disability rate was 11.45 per thousand (95 % CI:10.22-12.68). The false negative rates in HL and ASD were 0.14 per thousand, 0.80 per thousand, respectively, with a adjusted overall rate of 12.19per thousand. The prevalence rates of different kind disabilities from high to low were MR 9.31per thousand, MD 2.12per thousand, ASD 1.53per thousand (0.73per thousand before adjusted), HL 1.04per thousand (0.91per thousand before adjusted) VI 0.73per thousand. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the possible non-biological risk factors for those disabilities were being male, living in city area, advancing age, mother with low education, mother engaged in labor work, and family with low income. It was primarily (49.62%) those prenatal factors other them the known suspected factors that causing disabilities.

CONCLUSIONSCompared with data from a countrywide study in 1987, the overall disability rate had a mild decrease (16.36%) with the most (56.85%) appeared in HL. It is indispensable to establish a disabilities surveillance program for the early recognition and intervention of children with disabilities. It is also crucial to clarify a disability definition for children combined with their characteristics of growth and development. We strongly recommended in developing a new definition on children' disabilities and establishing new criteria according to the contents of developmental disabilities of Center for Disease Control, USA.