Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2013 Jul;132(1):e53-60.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-3497. Epub 2013 Jun 17.

Impact of neonatal growth on IQ and behavior at early school age

Lisa G Smithers  1 , John W Lynch, Seungmi Yang, Mourad Dahhou, Michael S Kramer
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Impact of neonatal growth on IQ and behavior at early school age

Lisa G Smithers et al. Pediatrics. 2013 Jul.

Abstract

Objectives: The objective was to examine associations of neonatal weight gain (NWG) and head circumference gain (HCG) with IQ scores and behavior at early school age.

Methods: We used data from the Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial, involving Belarusian infants born full term and weighing ≥2500 g. NWG and HCG were measured as the percentage gain in weight and head circumference over the first 4 weeks relative to birth size. IQ and behavior were measured at 6.5 years of age by using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), respectively, with SDQ collected from parents and teachers. The associations between the exposures (NWG, HCG) and children's IQ and SDQ were examined by using mixed models to account for clustering of measurements, and adjustment for potentially confounding perinatal and socioeconomic factors.

Results: Mean NWG was 26% (SD 10%) of birth weight. In fully adjusted models, infants in the highest versus lowest quartile of NWG had 1.5-point (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8 to 2.2) higher IQ scores (n = 13 840). A weak negative (protective) association between NWG and SDQ total difficulties scores was observed for the teacher-reported (β = -0.39, 95% CI -0.71 to -0.08, n = 12 016), but not the parent-reported (β = -0.12, 95% CI -0.39 to 0.15, n = 13 815), SDQ. Similar associations were observed with HCG and IQ and behavior.

Conclusions: Faster gains in weight or head circumference in the 4 weeks after birth may contribute to children's IQ, but reverse causality (brain function affects neonatal growth) cannot be excluded.

Keywords: IQ; behavior; head circumference; neonatal growth; weight gain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Tyler M, Hellings P. Feeding method and rehospitalization in newborns less than 1 month of age. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2005;34(1):70–79 - PubMed
    1. Corbett SS, Drewett RF. To what extent is failure to thrive in infancy associated with poorer cognitive development? A review and meta-analysis. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2004;45(3):641–654 - PubMed
    1. Emond AM, Blair PS, Emmett PM, Drewett RF. Weight faltering in infancy and IQ levels at 8 years in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Pediatrics. 2007;120(4). Available at: www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/120/4/e1051 - PubMed
    1. Heinonen K, Räikkönen K, Pesonen A-K, et al. . Trajectories of growth and symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children: a longitudinal study. BMC Pediatr. 2011;11:84–93 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Heinonen K, Räikkönen K, Pesonen A-K, et al. . Prenatal and postnatal growth and cognitive abilities at 56 months of age: a longitudinal study of infants born at term. Pediatrics. 2008;121(5). Available at: www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/212/5/e1325 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

-