Educational attainments in early adolescence of infants who required major neonatal surgery

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess long-term educational attainment in adolescence of former infants who required major neonatal surgery. Methods: The study is an extension of a prospective longitudinal study begun in 1983 on 30 full-term newborns requiring major neonatal surgery, a matched healthy control group, and full-term infants requiring neonatal intensive care for medical reasons. Educational attainment levels were obtained from the results of compulsory national curriculum examinations taken at age 11 years in 3 core academic subjects, English, Mathematics, and Science and teachers' assessments of current academic performance. Additionally, follow-up data on health were obtained from family general practitioners and parents. Results: Seventy percent of the original surgical group, 48% of the original control group, and 77% of the original medical group underwent follow-up. The participants were aged between 11 and 13 years. After adjustment for social factors (gender, social group, and mother's age), the surgical group was significantly behind on all measures of educational attainment (English, P <.0005; Mathematics, P <.02; Science, P <.0005; academic performance, P =.004), compared with the control group and medical group who did not differ from each other. Independent predictors of outcome were mechanical ventilation for ≥4 days in the neonatal period and behavior problems at 3 years. At 12 months of age, independent predictors of cognitive functioning were length of hospitalization and, at 3 years of age, the number of operative procedures. Mechanical ventilation was not significantly associated with cognitive functioning at previous stages of the study. Conclusions: These results show that, in early adolescence, children who required major neonatal surgery were performing less well academically compared with their peers. This information can be used to increase awareness of the difficulties these children may experience during childhood so that intervention can be directed appropriately, thereby lessening the risk of later educational problems. J Pediatr Surg 36:858-862. Copyright © 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.