ArticlePloS one2022
Gestational age at birth and academic attainment in primary and secondary school in England: Evidence from a national cohort study.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled 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
- Identifying psychosocial predictors and developing a risk score for preterm birth among Kenyan pregnant women.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Trial
- Gestational Age and Childhood Educational Outcomes in Primary and High School Years.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Common and rare genetic variant associations with cognitive performance across development in British birth cohorts.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Health and Socioeconomic Factors in School Readiness and Achievement Among Children Born Very Preterm.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Fetal Growth Restriction at a Universal Late Third-Trimester Scan and Relationship With Adverse Outcome: Retrospective Cohort Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2026Article
- Incidence of developmental disorders and special educational needs and disabilities in children in the UK.Developmental medicine and child neurology · 2026Article
- Long-Term Educational Outcomes of Individuals Born Preterm.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Neonatal neurodevelopmental follow-up in the UK: a survey of current practice and future recommendations.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Late-Preterm and Early-Term Birth.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Risk factors for mortality and severe morbidity in fetuses with normal late third-trimester scan: population-based cohort study.Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2025Article
- Birth weight and school absences and attainment: a longitudinal linked cohort study of compulsory schooling in England.Archives of disease in childhood · 2025Article
- Five-year neurodevelopmental assessment of extremely preterm or extremely low birthweight infants: Association with school performance.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2025Article
- The relationship between below average cognitive ability at age 5 years and the child's experience of school at age 9.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The early educational environment at five years of age in a European cohort of children born very preterm: challenges and opportunities for research.BMC pediatrics · 2024Article
- Respiratory, cardio-metabolic and neurodevelopmental long-term outcomes of moderate to late preterm birth: not just a near term-population. A follow-up study.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Neonatal health care costs of very preterm babies in England: a retrospective analysis of a national birth cohort.BMJ paediatrics open · 2023Article
- Gestational age at birth and cognitive outcomes in adolescence: population based full sibling cohort study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Article
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8 authors.
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Abstract
Preterm birth (<37 weeks' gestation) is a risk factor for poor educational outcomes. A dose-response effect of earlier gestational age at birth on poor primary school attainment has been observed, but evidence for secondary school attainment is limited and focused predominantly on the very preterm (<32 weeks) population. We examined the association between gestational age at birth and academic attainment at the end of primary and secondary schooling in England. Data for children born in England from 2000-2001 were drawn from the population-based UK Millennium Cohort Study. Information about the child's birth, sociodemographic factors and health was collected from parents. Attainment on national tests at the end of primary (age 11) and secondary school (age 16) was derived from linked education records. Data on attainment in primary school was available for 6,950 pupils and that of secondary school was available for 7,131 pupils. Adjusted relative risks (aRRs) for these outcomes were estimated at each stage separately using modified Poisson regression. At the end of primary school, 17.7% of children had not achieved the expected level in both English and Mathematics and this proportion increased with increasing prematurity. Compared to full term (39-41 weeks) children, the strongest associations were among children born moderately (32-33 weeks; aRR = 2.13 (95% CI 1.44-3.13)) and very preterm (aRR = 2.06 (95% CI 1.46-2.92)). Children born late preterm (34-36 weeks) and early term (37-38 weeks) were also at higher risk with aRR = 1.18 (95% CI 0.94-1.49) and aRR = 1.21 (95% CI 1.05-1.38), respectively. At the end of secondary school, 45.2% had not passed at least five General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations including English and Mathematics. Following adjustment, only children born very preterm were at significantly higher risk (aRR = 1.26 (95% CI 1.03-1.54)). All children born before full term are at risk of poorer attainment during primary school compared with term-born children, but only children born very preterm remain at risk at the end of secondary schooling. Children born very preterm may require additional educational support throughout compulsory schooling.
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