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Children with a very low birthweight showed poorer reading skills at eight years of age but caught up in most areas by the age of 10
Author(s) -
Leijon Ingemar,
Ingemansson Fredrik,
Nelson Nina,
Samuelsson Stefan,
Wadsby Marie
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.14377
Subject(s) - medicine , reading (process) , pediatrics , spelling , low birth weight , univariate analysis , cognition , longitudinal study , full term , developmental psychology , reading comprehension , phonological awareness , analysis of variance , psychology , multivariate analysis , psychiatry , pregnancy , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , biology , political science , law , genetics
Aim We evaluated the development of reading skills in very low birthweight ( VLBW ) children and controls at 8–10 years of age. Methods This study was part of a longitudinal study of VLBW infants born between January 1998 and December 1999 in Sweden. We recruited 49 VLBW children and 44 sex and age‐matched full‐term controls when they started school at the age of seven and tested them using identical methods for decoding, rapid naming ability, reading comprehension, and spelling and cognitive skills at about eight and 10 years of age. Univariate analysis of variance was performed to assess the effects of VLBW on reading performance at each age and to evaluate the differences between the groups and ages. Results Very low birthweight children scored significantly lower in all domains of reading at 7.8 ± 0.3 years, but the performance gap had narrowed by 9.8 ± 0.3 years. Significant catch‐up gains were found in phonological awareness, rapid naming ability and reading comprehension. The differences between the groups were minor at 10 years, when controlled for non‐verbal cognition. Conclusion Very low birthweight children demonstrated worse reading performance at eight years of age than term‐born controls. The gap in reading skills between the groups had largely narrowed two years later.