FYI Paper in this week's BMJ, I've also attached press release from BMJ about
this paper.

David McDaid
LSE Health and Social Care

Birth weight, childhood socioeconomic environment, and cognitive
development in the 1958 British birth cohort study
Barbara J M H Jefferis, Chris Power, and Clyde Hertzman
BMJ 2002;325 305
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/325/7359/305


BIRTH WEIGHT AND SOCIAL CLASS LINKED TO EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

(Birth weight, childhood socioeconomic environment, and
cognitive development in the 1958 British birth cohort
study)

Birth weight and social class at birth have a strong
influence on cognitive (mental) function in children, say
researchers in this week's BMJ.

The study involved 10,845 males and females born
during 3-9 March 1958 in England, Scotland, and
Wales. The team investigated the combined effect of birth
weight and socioeconomic environment on cognitive tests
and educational achievements at 7, 11, 16, and 33 years.

All cognitive tests and educational achievements
improved significantly with increasing birth weight. For
example, the proportion of men with higher qualifications
increased from 26% in the lowest (2500 g or less) birth
weight group to 34% in the highest (more than 4000 g).
For women, equivalent percentages were 17% and 28%.
Standardised maths scores increased with increasing birth
weight at all ages.

Social background had a strong effect on maths scores,
with children from class I and II gaining higher scores
than those from class IV and V. Looking jointly at the
effects of birth weight and social class, participants of low
birth weight from class I and II had higher average scores
for maths than participants of normal birth weight from
class IV and V. The association between maths score
and social class seemed to strengthen with age, whilst the
association with birth weight remained similar with age.

"Our results suggest a cumulative effect of prenatal (birth
weight) and postnatal (social class) influences on
cognitive development," say the authors. "Although the
overall effect size of differences in cognitive scores
associated with birth weight is small for individuals, the
impact in populations may be important."

The greater explanatory value of social background
suggests that gains in cognitive development may depend
more on efforts to redress disadvantages in childhood
social environment, they conclude.

Contact:

Barbara Jefferis, Research Fellow, Centre for Paediatric
Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Child Health,
London, UK
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