School-entry age and academic difficulties at 7 years of age in children born very preterm: A call for age-corrected schooling: School-entry age and academic difficulties at 7 years of age in children born very preterm

Background: Very preterm children are at greater risk of academic difficulties (AD). Some of them start school a year earlier than anticipated during pregnancy due to being born preterm. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between neurodevelopment, school-entry age, and AD at age seven.

Method: AD were assessed at age seven in children born before 33 weeks of gestation between January 1st, 2007 and December 31, 2014 and enrolled in LIFT cohort. To analyze the relationship between school-entry age and AD, we used generalized equations with adjustment for perinatal, socio-economic factors, and neurodevelopment assessed by Age Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) at 5 years. Moreover, we used Global Scholar Adaptation (GSA) score to evaluate the school adaptation.

Results: 2599 children were in routine schooling. Entering school a year earlier was observed in 597 (23.0 %). AD was known for 1943/2599 (74.8 %). Starting school a year earlier was associated with an increased rate of AD: 35.4 % in the exposed group versus 20.2 % in the non-exposed group, with a relative risk of 1.76 (95 % CI: 1.48; 2.08). Both starting school a year earlier and ASQ at 5 years old were independently associated with the GSA score at age 7: standardized β = -0.15 (95 % CI:-0.10;-0.20) and 0.40 (95 % CI: 0.35; 0.45) respectively.

Conclusion: Starting school a year earlier than anticipated during pregnancy was associated with an increased rate of AD at age 7 in children born very preterm, independently of their neurodevelopment at age 5 assessed by ASQ. Basing school entry age on corrected age seems appropriate to mitigate this risk.