Early-term Births Associated with Higher Rate of ADHD as Reported by Teachers
Published:14 Sep.2022 Source:Rutgers University
ADHD, which affects more than 10 percent of U.S. school-age children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, manifests early in childhood with symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity or inattention, and has known links to preterm birth (less than 37 weeks gestation). The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, is one of only a few to investigate the associations between gestational age at term (37-41 weeks) and a diagnosis or symptoms of ADHD. It is the first to include reports from teachers.
Reichman and her team, they analyzed data on about 1,400 children in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, a U.S. birth cohort study that randomly sampled births in 75 hospitals in 20 large U.S. cities from 1998 to 2000 and re-interviewed mothers over nine years. During the nine-year follow-up, consent was obtained to contact the children's teachers, who were asked to evaluate their students using the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale-Revised Short Form, which includes symptoms of hyperactivity, ADHD, oppositional behavior and cognitive problems or inattention.
Overall, the Rutgers researchers found that children born early-term (37-38 weeks) had significantly higher scores on the teacher rating scales than children who were full-term (39-41 weeks) for hyperactivity, ADHD and cognitive problems or inattention, but that gestational age wasn't significantly associated with oppositional behavior.
Specifically, the researchers found that each week of gestational age at term was associated with 6 percent lower hyperactivity scores and 5 percent lower ADHD and cognitive problems or inattention scores, and that birth at 37 to 38 weeks was associated with 23 percent higher hyperactivity scores and 17 percent higher ADHD scores when compared with birth at 39 to 41 weeks.