Gestational age at birth and cognitive outcomes in adolescence: population based full sibling cohort study

Objective: To investigate the association between gestational age at birth and cognitive outcomes in adolescence.

Design: Nationwide population based full sibling cohort study.

Setting: Denmark.

Participants 1.2 million children born between 1 January 1986 and 31 December 2003, of whom 792 724 had one or more full siblings born in the same period.

Main outcome measures: Scores in written language (Danish) and mathematics examinations as graded by masked assessors at the end of compulsory schooling (ninth grade, ages 15-16 years), in addition to intelligence test score at military conscription (predominantly at age 18 years) for a nested sub-cohort of male adolescents. School grades were standardised as z scores according to year of examination, and intelligence test scores were standardised as z scores according to year of birth.

Results; Among 792 724 full siblings in the cohort, 44 322 (5.6%) were born before 37+0 weeks of gestation. After adjusting for multiple confounders (sex, birth weight, malformations, parental age at birth, parental educational level, and number of older siblings) and shared family factors between siblings, only children born at <34 gestational weeks showed reduced mean grades in written language (z score difference −0.10 (95% confidence interval −0.20 to −0.01) for ≤27 gestational weeks) and mathematics (−0.05 (−0.08 to −0.01) for 32-33 gestational weeks, −0.13 (−0.17 to −0.09) for 28-31 gestational weeks, and −0.23 (−0.32 to −0.15) for ≤27 gestational weeks), compared with children born at 40 gestational weeks. In a nested sub-cohort of full brothers with intelligence test scores, those born at 32-33, 28-31, and ≤27 gestational weeks showed a reduction in IQ points of 2.4 (95% confidence interval 1.1 to 3.6), 3.8 (2.3 to 5.3), and 4.2 (0.8 to 7.5), respectively, whereas children born at 34-39 gestational weeks showed a reduction in intelligence of <1 IQ point, compared with children born at 40 gestational weeks.

Conclusions: Cognitive outcomes in adolescence did not differ between those born at 34-39 gestational weeks and those born at 40 gestational weeks, whereas those with a gestational age of <34 weeks showed substantial deficits in multiple cognitive domains.