TY - JOUR
T1 - Preterm Birth is Associated with Lower Academic Attainment at Age 12 Years
T2 - A Matched Cohort Study by Linkage of Population-Based Datasets
AU - van Beek, Pauline E.
AU - Leemhuis, Aleid G.
AU - Abu-Hanna, Ameen
AU - Pajkrt, Eva
AU - Aarnoudse-Moens, Cornelieke S.H.
AU - van Baar, Anneloes L.
AU - Andriessen, Peter
AU - Ravelli, Anita C.J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project has been funded by an unrestricted grant from Stichting Tiny and Anny van Doorne Fonds. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the article. Access to the micro-data analysis environment of Statistics Netherlands data for this study (project 8617) was given by Statistics Netherlands. In addition, the privacy commission of Perined (approval number 19.43) approved the study in 2019. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Funding Information:
This project has been funded by an unrestricted grant from Stichting Tiny and Anny van Doorne Fonds . The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the article. Access to the micro-data analysis environment of Statistics Netherlands data for this study (project 8617) was given by Statistics Netherlands. In addition, the privacy commission of Perined (approval number 19.43) approved the study in 2019. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - Objective: To compare academic attainment at age 12 years in preterm children born below 30 weeks of gestation with matched term-born peers, using standardized, nationwide and well-validated school tests. Study design: This population-based, national cohort study was performed by linking perinatal data from the nationwide Netherlands Perinatal Registry with educational outcome data from Statistics Netherlands and included 4677 surviving preterm children born at 250/7-296/7 weeks of gestational age and 366 561 controls born at 40 weeks of gestational age in 2000-2007. First, special education participation rate was calculated. Subsequently, all preterm children with academic attainment test data derived at age 12 years were matched to term-born children using year and month of birth, sex, parity, socioeconomic status, and maternal age. Total, language, and mathematics test scores and secondary school level advice were compared between these 2 groups. Results: Children below 30 weeks of gestation had a higher special education participation rate (10.2% vs 2.7%, P < .001) than term-born peers. Preterm children had lower total (−0.37 SD; 95% CI −0.42 to −0.31), language (−0.21 SD; 95% CI −0.27 to −0.15), and mathematics (−0.45 SD; 95%CI −0.51 to −0.38) z scores, and more often a prevocational secondary school level advice (62% vs 46%, P < .001). Conclusions: A substantial proportion of children born before 30 weeks of gestation need special education at the end of elementary schooling. These children have significant deficits on all measures of academic attainment at age 12 years, especially mathematics, compared with matched term-born peers.
AB - Objective: To compare academic attainment at age 12 years in preterm children born below 30 weeks of gestation with matched term-born peers, using standardized, nationwide and well-validated school tests. Study design: This population-based, national cohort study was performed by linking perinatal data from the nationwide Netherlands Perinatal Registry with educational outcome data from Statistics Netherlands and included 4677 surviving preterm children born at 250/7-296/7 weeks of gestational age and 366 561 controls born at 40 weeks of gestational age in 2000-2007. First, special education participation rate was calculated. Subsequently, all preterm children with academic attainment test data derived at age 12 years were matched to term-born children using year and month of birth, sex, parity, socioeconomic status, and maternal age. Total, language, and mathematics test scores and secondary school level advice were compared between these 2 groups. Results: Children below 30 weeks of gestation had a higher special education participation rate (10.2% vs 2.7%, P < .001) than term-born peers. Preterm children had lower total (−0.37 SD; 95% CI −0.42 to −0.31), language (−0.21 SD; 95% CI −0.27 to −0.15), and mathematics (−0.45 SD; 95%CI −0.51 to −0.38) z scores, and more often a prevocational secondary school level advice (62% vs 46%, P < .001). Conclusions: A substantial proportion of children born before 30 weeks of gestation need special education at the end of elementary schooling. These children have significant deficits on all measures of academic attainment at age 12 years, especially mathematics, compared with matched term-born peers.
KW - matching
KW - prematurity
KW - registry
KW - school outcome
KW - special education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138581415&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.07.049
DO - 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.07.049
M3 - Article
C2 - 35944725
AN - SCOPUS:85138581415
SN - 0022-3476
VL - 251
SP - 60-66.e3
JO - Journal of Pediatrics
JF - Journal of Pediatrics
ER -