Link between preterm birth and educational attainment explored in UK primary and secondary schoolchildren

All children born before full term are more likely to have poorer attainment during primary school compared with children born full term (39–41 weeks), but only children born very preterm—before 32 weeks—remain at risk of poor attainment at the end of secondary schooling, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Neora Alterman, Maria Quigley of Oxford Population Health, U.K., and colleagues.