Reading attainment and physical development after whooping cough

Anthropometric measurements were made on 360 primary school children with a history of whooping cough and on 711 controls. Altogether 245 (68%) cases and 469 (66%) controls had taken tests of reading attainment and a smaller number had taken tests of intelligence. No significant differences were found between cases and controls in any of the anthropometric measurements nor in reading age or intelligence quotient after controlling for social class and parental smoking. Whooping cough is, in general, unlikely to cause subsequent deficiency in physical or mental development.