Premature Babies May Face Educational And Financial Issues In Their Adulthood

Children who are born premature tend to accumulate less wealth as adults, and this may be due to their lower mathematics abilities, suggests new research.

Premature babies tend to accumulate less wealth as adults this may be due to their lower mathematics abilities, says a new research.

The researchers found a link between premature birth, lower academic abilities in childhood, and less wealth in adulthood.

Vision Loss in Premature Babies Influenced by Major Blood Vessel Constrictor Gene
New research suggests that a gene known to be involved in constricting blood vessels also plays a key role in the aberrant blood vessel growth.

"Our findings suggest that the economic costs of preterm birth are not limited to healthcare and educational support in childhood, but extend well into adulthood," said psychological scientist Dieter Wolke from the University of Warwick in England.

"Together, these results suggest that the effects of prematurity via academic performance on wealth are long term, lasting into the fifth decade of life," Wolke noted.

Worldwide 11 percent of infants are born preterm which amounts to around 15 million births per year. For the study, the researchers followed 15,000 participants who were either born in 1958 or 1970. Those participants who were born preterm, which is at less than 37 weeks, were compared to those who were born full-term.

Premature Babies More Likely to Have An Increased Risk for Developing ADHD
Children with ADHD had more than 10 times greater odds of being born at 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy than the children without ADHD.

In both of the cohorts, children who were born preterm tended to have lower wealth at age 42 and lower educational qualifications in adulthood than those who were born full-term.

Individuals born preterm were more likely to be manual workers, more likely to be unemployed, more likely to report financial difficulties, and less likely to own a house than those who were born full-term, even after other potential factors were taken into account.

Premature Babies are Likelier to Turn Out Introverted, Neurotic, and Risk Averse Adults
The researchers compared the personality of 200 26-year-olds who were born underweight with those of 197 young people who had been born with normal weight.

Previous studies have established that brain injury suffered by preterm children is likely to result in cognitive difficulties that may cause learning difficulties resulting in underachievement at school.

As predicted, premature children in this study also tended to demonstrate lower academic abilities in childhood, and for mathematics in particular.

Breast Milk Can Protect Premature Babies from Severe Intestinal Disease
One in 4 premature babies dies due to intestinal issues. A substance found in animal and human breast milk called epidermal growth factor prevents fatalities.

The findings appeared in the journal Psychological Science.

Source-IANS