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Short-Term and Long-Term Educational Outcomes of Infants Born Moderately and Late Preterm
Carrie Townley Flores1, Amy Gerstein2, Ciaran S Phibbs3
1Institute of Education Sciences Fellow, Center for Education Policy Analysis, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
Insights
Moderate and late preterm birth is linked to lower academic performance and increased behavioral issues like absenteeism and suspension in school-aged children. These educational challenges persist through elementary and middle school years.
Area of Science:
- Perinatal health
- Educational psychology
- Public health
Background:
- Moderate and late preterm birth (32-36 weeks gestation) is common.
- Long-term educational outcomes for these children require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the association between moderate and late preterm birth and long-term educational outcomes.
- To determine if preterm birth is a risk factor for adverse neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes in school.
Main Methods:
- Linked vital statistics birth data with school administrative data for 72,316 students.
- Compared risks of moderate/late preterm birth versus term birth for educational outcomes from kindergarten to 12th grade.
- Adjusted for socioeconomic status in the analysis.
Main Results:
- Moderate and late preterm birth correlated with increased risk of poor performance in math and English language arts.
- Higher rates of chronic absenteeism and suspension were observed in preterm-born students.
- These adverse outcomes were evident from early elementary grades and persisted, particularly suspension through 12th grade.
Conclusions:
- Moderate and late preterm birth is a significant risk factor for adverse educational outcomes.
- Findings support the use of birth data for identifying at-risk students for early intervention.
- Further research is needed in diverse populations and to explore the impact of interventions.
Objective:
To assess the relationship of moderate and late preterm birth (320/7-366/7 weeks) to long-term educational outcomes.
Study Design:
We hypothesized that moderate and late preterm birth would be associated with adverse outcomes in elementary school. To test this, we linked vital statistics patient discharge data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development including birth outcomes, to the 2015-2016 school year administrative data of a large, urban school district (n = 72 316). We compared the relative risk of moderate and late preterm and term infants for later adverse neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes in kindergarten through the 12th grade.
Results:
After adjusting for socioeconomic status, compared with term birth, moderate and late preterm birth was associated with an increased risk of low performance in mathematics and English language arts, chronic absenteeism, and suspension. These risks emerged in kindergarten through grade 2 and remained in grades 3-5, but seemed to wash out in later grades, with the exception of suspension, which remained through grades 9-12.
Conclusions:
Confirming our hypothesis, moderate and late preterm birth was associated with adverse educational outcomes in late elementary school, indicating that it is a significant risk factor that school districts could leverage when targeting early intervention. Future studies will need to test these relations in geographically and socioeconomically diverse school districts, include a wider variety of outcomes, and consider how early interventions moderate associations between birth outcomes and educational outcomes.
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