Head circumference at birth and school performance: a nationwide cohort study of 536,921 children.

Autor: Bach CC; Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit & Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark. ccbach@clin.au.dk.; Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Viborg Regional Hospital, Viborg, Denmark. ccbach@clin.au.dk., Henriksen TB; Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit & Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark., Larsen RT; Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit & Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark., Aagaard K; Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit & Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark., Matthiesen NB; Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit & Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.; Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Randers Regional Hospital, Randers, Denmark.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Pediatric research [Pediatr Res] 2020 May; Vol. 87 (6), pp. 1112-1118. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Nov 28.
DOI: 10.1038/s41390-019-0683-2
Abstrakt: Background: Early measures of cognitive function are of great public health interest. We aimed to estimate the association between head circumference at birth, a measure of cerebral size, and school performance.
Methods: We conducted a nationwide cohort study of all liveborn singletons in Denmark, 1997-2005. The association between birth head circumference z score and test scores in reading and mathematics from a nationwide mandatory computer-based school test program (7-16 years) was estimated by multivariable linear regression adjusted for potential confounders.
Results: The cohort included 536,921 children. Compared to normocephalic children, children with microcephaly [<-2 standard deviations (SD)] had lower mean reading scores: second grade: -0.08 SD (95% CI -0.10 to -0.06), eighth grade: -0.07 SD (95% CI -0.10 to -0.04). Macrocephaly (>+2 SD) was associated with higher scores. In normocephalic children, each SD increase in head circumference was associated with a 0.03 SD (95% CI 0.03 to 0.04) increase in mean reading scores. The results were similar across grades within both reading and mathematics.
Conclusion: Prenatal brain growth may be causally related to childhood school performance. The demonstrated differences are unlikely to be clinically relevant at the individual level but may be important at a public health level.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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