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 "It has been well-established that late-term births are associated
with higher levels of neonatal health problems,” Dr. David N. Figlio
from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois told Reuters Health
by email. “But due to data limitations, we haven't been able to look
well beyond birth to see whether these problems persist, or if there
are other potential benefits of late-term births."
The new study, he said, "shows not only that children born in late
term continue to have an elevated risk of health problems when
school-aged, but also that they have an elevated rate of cognitive
benefits.”
Dr. Figlio’s team compared test scores at ages 8 through 15 on the
Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) for more than 320,000
children born early-term, nearly 720,000 born at full-term, and
almost 120,000 born late-term. They also looked at whether the
children were classified as gifted by the Florida Department of
Education.
All of the kids were born between 1998 and 2013.
Late-term infants fared better across the board, with higher
standardized test scores, a greater percentage classified as gifted,
and a smaller percentage having poor cognitive outcomes, according
to a report in JAMA Pediatrics.
On the other hand, late-term infants were also more likely than
full-term infants to have abnormal physical conditions of birth and
physical disabilities at school-age.
The academic differences between late-term and full-term infants
were about half the size of the differences seen between full-term
and early-term infants, while the physical disability differences
between late-term and full-term infants were about one-third the
differences seen between full-term and early-term infants.
The differences between late-term and full-term infants were more
pronounced for children of less-educated mothers.
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“A statistical study is just one piece of evidence that expectant
parents should consider when thinking of the ‘right’ time to give
birth,” Dr. Figlio said. “Physicians have a tremendous amount of
information about maternal and fetal health in each specific
pregnancy.”
When a pregnancy is routine, low-risk, and uncomplicated, “there
seems to be no ‘magic time’ to deliver your baby,” he said. “There
are tradeoffs associated with being born at 39 or 40 weeks versus
being born at 41 weeks, and expectant parents should weigh the
apparent cognitive benefits against the apparent physical risks when
thinking about their most-preferred time to deliver.”
“I imagine that some families, in cases of routine, low-risk,
uncomplicated pregnancies, would opt for assuming a modestly higher
risk of physical issues in order to achieve modestly higher chances
of better cognitive outcomes, and other families would opt for
modestly lower chances of good cognitive outcomes in order to
achieve modestly better chances of physical health,” Dr. Figlio
said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/28fKmnc JAMA Pediatrics, online June 6, 2016.
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