Gestational Age and Childhood Educational Outcomes in Primary and High School Years

In this cohort study of over 1 million Australian children, the independent association of gestational age at birth with educational performance was most pronounced for children born at less than 28 weeks’ gestation; for children born from 28 to 38 weeks’ gestation, differences were not clinically meaningful and were likely primarily attributable to unmeasured confounding by shared familial factors. These findings support prioritizing prevention of the earliest preterm births and suggest that children born before 28 weeks’ gestation may benefit from early identification of learning difficulties and targeted educational support.

Corresponding Author: Roxanne Hastie, PhD, Perinatal Epidemiology Group, Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health, University of Melbourne, 163 Studley Rd, Heidelberg 3084, Victoria, Australia (Hastie.r@unimelb.edu.au).

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