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Is early childhood development impeded by the birth timing of the younger sibling?

Gursimran Dhamrait1,2,3, Melissa O'Donnell1,4, Hayley Christian1,2

  • 1Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Plos One
|May 10, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Closely spaced births, with less than 12 months between siblings, increase the risk of developmental vulnerability in older children. Optimizing interpregnancy intervals may improve early childhood development outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Public Health
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Investigated the association between interpregnancy intervals (IPIs) and developmental vulnerability in older siblings.
  • Utilized population-level data from Western Australia.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if the timing of a younger sibling's birth impacts the older sibling's risk of developmental vulnerability.
  • To inform strategies for improving child development outcomes through birth spacing.

Main Methods:

  • Linked birth registration, hospital, and perinatal datasets with the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).
  • Followed a cohort of 32,324 singletons born in Western Australia (2009-2015).
  • Classified developmental vulnerability based on scores below the 10th percentile in AEDC domains; used modified Poisson Regression to analyze IPIs and risk.

Main Results:

  • Interpregnancy intervals (IPIs) of <6 and 6-11 months were associated with increased risk of developmental vulnerability (DV1 and DV2).
  • Short IPIs (<6 months) showed increased risk across four of five AEDC domains.
  • Longer IPIs (48-60 months) also showed increased risk for specific vulnerability types and domains.

Conclusions:

  • Developmental vulnerability is linked to closely spaced younger siblings (IPIs <12 months).
  • Optimizing birth spacing is a potential strategy to enhance child development.
  • Further research into birth spacing interventions is warranted.
Abstract

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