Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is characterized by a significant delay in the acquisition and execution of motor skills, impacting children's daily activities and school performance. The most recent prevalence estimates indicate that this disorder affects between 5 and 6% of school-age children. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of investigating the prevalence of DCD in different Brazilian regions.

To explore the prevalence of risk for DCD and probable DCD in children aged 6 to 10 years from two Brazilian regions.

199 children aged 6 to 10 years old from public schools in the South (n=89) and Southeast (n=108) regions of Brazil participated in this cross-sectional study. Parents/guardians signed the informed consent form under ethics approval. For screening and identification of alterations in motor function, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) was used, following all the criteria for the diagnosis of DCD recommended in the literature. The assessment was conducted in schools by trained professionals with experience in motor assessment. Prevalence of risk (≤15% percentile) and probable DCD (≤5% percentile) in both regions was calculated and analyzed descriptively. MABC-2 total scores and component scores were compared by region using t-tests, with a significance level of 5%.

The sample of this study consisted of 54.3% girls with a mean age of 7.95 (± 1.34) years and 45.7% boys with 7.88 (± 1.47) years. There were no differences between the mean age and sex distribution of participants between regions. No differences were found between regions in the total MABC-2 scores (p= 0.28). When analyzing the components of the instrument, the regions showed differences in the following domains: Manual Dexterity (p= 0.002), Aiming and Catching (p=0.01) and Balance (p= 0.01). It was observed that in the Balance component score, children from the South region had higher average scores compared to children from the Southeast region. Children from the Southeast region had higher average scores compared to children from the Southern region in Aiming and Catching and Manual Dexterity. In children from the Southern region of Brazil, 10.1% of the participants had probable DCD and 18% were at risk for DCD. Therefore, 71.9% had a typical motor development. A higher prevalence was found in the Southeast region, with 27.3% of children with probable DCD, 7.3% risk and 65.5% with typical motor performance.

The prevalence of DCD and the scores of children in specific motor domains were different across South and Southeast regions of the country. Thus, exploring other contextual factors that may have contributed to these findings is warranted.

The present study made progress towards identifying differences in the motor profile of children from two different regions of the country. Collecting representative data from other regions of the country will help to understand possible variations in motor performance according to the context where the child is inserted.