Trial reportPloS one2019
General cognitive but not mathematic abilities predict very preterm and healthy term born adults' wealth.
Trial report in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Socioeconomic outcomes in very preterm/very low birth weight adults: individual participant data meta-analysis.Pediatric research · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive and academic outcomes of large-for-gestational-age babies born at early term: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2025Pooled it
- Key Components of Parenting Education Interventions for Preterm Infant-Parent Dyads Admitted to the NICU: A Systematic Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Prenatal maternal Inflammation, childhood cognition and adolescent depressive symptoms.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Article
- Preterm Birth, Family Income, and Intergenerational Income Mobility.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Mathematics abilities associated with adaptive functioning in preschool children born preterm.Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence · 2024Article
- Association between preterm birth and economic and educational outcomes in adulthood: A population-based matched cohort study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Advances in functional and diffusion neuroimaging research into the long-term consequences of very preterm birth.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveVery preterm (<32 weeks gestation; VP) and/or very low birth weight (<1500g; VLBW) children often have cognitive and mathematic difficulties. It is unknown whether VP/VLBW children's frequent mathematic problems significantly add to the burden of negative life-course consequences over and above effects of more general cognitive deficits. Our aim was to determine whether negative consequences of VP/VLBW versus healthy term birth on adult wealth are mediated by mathematic abilities in childhood, or rather explained by more general cognitive abilities.
methods193 VP/VLBW and 217 healthy term comparison participants were studied prospectively from birth to adulthood as part of a geographically defined study in Bavaria (South Germany). Mathematic and general cognitive abilities were assessed at 8 years with standardized tests; wealth information was assessed at 26 years with a structured interview and summarized into a comprehensive index score. All scores were z-standardized.
resultsAt 8 years, VP/VLBW (n = 193, 52.3% male) had lower mathematic and general cognitive abilities than healthy term comparison children (n = 217, 47.0% male). At 26 years, VP/VLBW had accumulated significantly lower overall wealth than term born comparison adults (-0.57 (1.08) versus -0.01 (1.00), mean difference 0.56 [0.36-0.77], p < .001). Structural equation modeling confirmed that VP/VLBW birth (β = -.13, p = .022) and childhood IQ (β = .24, p < .001) both directly predicted adult wealth, but math did not (β = .05, p = .413). Analyses were controlled for small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth, child sex, and family socioeconomic status.
conclusionThis longitudinal study from birth to adulthood shows that VP/VLBW survivors' general cognitive rather than specific mathematic problems explain their diminished life-course success. These findings are important in order to design effective interventions at school age that reduce the burden of prematurity for those individuals who were born at highest neonatal risk.
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