Footnotes

• Contributors HJSW conceived and designed the study, conducted data collection, performed data analysis, drafted the initial manuscript, and revised and approved the final manuscript as submitted. HPSW conducted data collection, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted. EMK and JM conceived and designed the study, conducted data collection, critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted. BCW provided oversight for the study and editing of the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Competing interests None declared.

• Patient consent Not required.

• Ethics approval Institutional Review Board of CURE Children’s Hospital Uganda.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

• Data sharing statement Additional results concerning survival of the cohort with spina bifida have already been published. Data concerning renal outcomes are due to be published. Further data including neurological examination, family structure and quality of life are available by contacting the corresponding author. There is little further information available relating to the healthy cohort (details of school class and some free text comments regarding quality of life) as the interviews were limited in their scope.