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School performance for children with cleft lip and palate: a population‐based study
Author(s) -
Bell J. C.,
RaynesGreenow C.,
Turner R.,
Bower C.,
Dodson A.,
Nicholls W.,
Nassar N.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/cch.12388
Subject(s) - spelling , punctuation , numeracy , odds , population , odds ratio , demography , pediatrics , medicine , grammar , literacy , psychology , environmental health , pedagogy , logistic regression , philosophy , linguistics , pathology , sociology , computer science , operating system
Background Educational attainment is important in shaping young people's life prospects. To investigate whether being born with orofacial cleft (OFC) affects school performance, we compared school test results between children born with and without OFC. Methods Using record‐linked datasets, we conducted a population‐based cohort study of children liveborn in Western Australia 1980–2010 with a diagnosis of OFC on the Register of Developmental Anomalies, and a random sample of 6603 children born without OFC. We compared odds ratios for meeting national minimum standards in five domains (reading, numeracy, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation), and adjusted OR (aOR) for children with cleft lip only (CLO), cleft lip and palate (CL + P) and cleft palate only (CPO) for each domain. Results Results from two testing programs (WALNA and NAPLAN) were available for 3238 (89%) children expected to participate. Most met the national minimum standards. Compared with children without OFC, children with CPO were less likely to meet minimum standards for NAPLAN reading (aOR 0.57 [95%CI 0.34, 0.96]) grammar and punctuation (aOR 0.49 [95%CI 0.32, 0.76]), WALNA writing (aOR 0.66 [95%CI 0.47, 0.92]), and WALNA and NAPLAN numeracy (aOR 0.64 [95%CI 0.43, 0.95] and aOR 0.47 [95%CI 0.28, 0.82]), respectively. Children with CL + P had significantly lower odds for reaching the spelling standard in NAPLAN tests (aOR 0.52 [95%CI 0.29, 0.94]). Children with CLO had similar odds for reaching all minimum standards. Conclusion Children born with OFC, particularly children with CPO, should be monitored to identify learning difficulties early, to enable intervention to maximize school attainment.