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Educational achievement to age 11 years in children born at late preterm and early term gestations
  1. Clare Copper1 Clare Copper,
  2. Amanda Waterman1,2,
  3. Cheti Nicoletti3,4,
  4. Katherine Pettinger5,6,
  5. Lee Sanders7,
  6. Liam J B Hill1,2
  1. 1 Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
  2. 2 Centre for Applied Education Research, Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, Bradford, UK
  3. 3 Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, York, UK
  4. 4 Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
  5. 5 Health Science, University of York, York, UK
  6. 6 Neonatal Unit, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, UK
  7. 7 Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Clare Copper, Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; pscsco{at}leeds.ac.uk; Clare Copper, Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; pscsco{at}leeds.ac.uk

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of being born late preterm (LPT, 34–36 weeks’ gestation) or early term (37–38 weeks) on children’s educational achievement between ages 5 and 11 years.

Design A series of observational studies of longitudinal linked health and education data.

Setting The Born-in-Bradford (BiB) birth cohort study, which recruited mothers during pregnancy between 2007 and 2011.

Participants The participants are children born between 2007 and 2011. Children with missing data, looked-after-children, multiple births and births post-term were excluded. The sample size varies by age according to amount of missing data, from 7860 children at age 5 years to 2386 at age 11 years (8031 at age 6 years and 5560 at age 7 years).

Main outcome measures Binary variables of whether a child reached the ‘expected’ level of overall educational achievement across subjects at the ages of 5, 6, 7 and 11 years. The achievement levels are measured using standardised teacher assessments and national tests.

Results Compared with full-term births (39–41 weeks), there were significantly increased adjusted odds of children born LPT, but not early term, of failing to achieve expected levels of overall educational achievement at ages 5 years (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.72,95% CI 1.34 to 2.21) and 7 years (aOR 1.46, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.97) but not at age 11 years (aOR 1.51, 95% CI 0.99 to 2.30). Being born LPT still had statistically significant effects on writing and mathematics at age 11 years.

Conclusions There is a strong association between LPT and education at age 5 years, which remains strong and statistically significant through age 11 years for mathematics but not for other key subjects.

  • child health services
  • child development
  • paediatrics
  • infant development

Data availability statement

Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. All the data we have used are available on request from the Born-in-Bradford (BiB) longitudinal cohort study. Access to these data is available on request via the following link: https://borninbradford.nhs.uk/research/how-to-access-data/. We do not have permission to republish independently the data shared with us to conduct our study, as per the conditions of the data sharing agreement we signed with BiB in order to be granted access to their data.

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2023-325453

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    Data availability statement

    Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. All the data we have used are available on request from the Born-in-Bradford (BiB) longitudinal cohort study. Access to these data is available on request via the following link: https://borninbradford.nhs.uk/research/how-to-access-data/. We do not have permission to republish independently the data shared with us to conduct our study, as per the conditions of the data sharing agreement we signed with BiB in order to be granted access to their data.

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @ClareCopper

    • Contributors CSC devised the initial overall plan, obtained the data, wrote the statistical analysis plan, cleaned and analysed the data and drafted and revised the paper. She is guarantor. AW supervised the data analysis, drafting of the paper and revisions to the paper. CN supervised the data analysis, drafting of the paper and revisions to the paper. KP provided guidance on the design, assisted with drafting the paper and revisions. LS provided guidance on the design, assisted with drafting the paper and revisions. LJBH supervised the development of the initial overall plan, the data analysis, drafting of the paper and revisions.The corresponding author attests that all listed authors meet authorship criteria and that no others meeting the criteria have been omitted.

    • Funding This work was supported by White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership Pathway and Network Award PhD scholarships (https://whiterose.ac.uk/) for the lead author (CSC).CSC is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Applied Health Research and Care Yorkshire and Humber (https://www.arc-yh.nihr.ac.uk/what-we-do/healthy-childhood/healthy-schools). AW, LJBH and CSC were supported by the Centre for Applied Educational Research (CAER) (https://caer.org.uk/projects/evaluating-the-impact-of-preterm-birth-on-childhood-development/).

    • Disclaimer The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care or the Centre for Applied Educational Research.

    • Competing interests CSC received financial support from the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership scholarships as part of a PhD Studentship Grant for the submitted work; KP has received a Doctoral Research Fellowship research grant from the National Institute for Health and Research, LJBH has received financial support for the National Institute of Health Research (Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaboration (YH-ARC) for PhD supervision and the Medical Research Council co-investigator for the Born in Bradford birth cohort for the submitted work. LJBH has received research grants from the ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership and the Waterloo Foundation. LJBH is an expert panel member for Sports England. AH has received grant funding from the Medical Research Council/Economic and Social Research Council. CN has received grant funding from the ESRC/White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership. LS has received grant funding from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Patent-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and Reach Out and Read National. LS provides consultancy for Anthem AI, and receives an honoraria for New School, Taiwan. LS provides expert testimony to the US Attorney’s Office and Morrison & Foerster.

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

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.