Richards Marcus, Hardy Rebecca, Kuh Diana, Wadsworth Michael E J
MRC National Survey of Health and Development, University College London, UK.
Int J Epidemiol. 2002 Apr;31(2):342-8.
Birthweight is associated with cognition and educational attainment across the full birthweight range in the normal population, independently of social background. However, the extent to which birthweight reflects fetal growth, or is a marker of subsequent size, with respect to this association, is not clear. We therefore investigated the independent effects of birthweight and postnatal height adjusted for postnatal weight on cognitive function and educational attainment while controlling for family background.
Using the British 1946 birth cohort we investigated the association between cognitive function at various ages and birthweight, height adjusted for weight in childhood and adulthood, and educational attainment, controlling for sex, father's social class, maternal education, birth order, and maternal age.
Birthweight was positively associated with cognition up to age 26, and with the likelihood of obtaining advanced educational qualifications. Height was positively associated with cognition at all ages, and also with educational attainment. Weight was not associated with cognition at ages 8 and 15, but was negatively associated with verbal ability at age 26, with verbal memory at age 43, and with educational attainment. These effects were independent of each other, and of family background. Conditional analyses suggested the positive effect of height growth on cognition at two intervals, one in early childhood, and the other in late adolescence. In addition, weight gain after age 15 was negatively associated with cognition at 26.
Birthweight and postnatal growth are independently associated with cognition.
在正常人群中，出生体重与认知能力及教育成就相关，且这种关联在整个出生体重范围内都存在，与社会背景无关。然而，关于出生体重在多大程度上反映胎儿生长情况，或者作为后续体型的一个标志，在这种关联中并不明确。因此，我们在控制家庭背景的同时，研究了出生体重以及根据出生后体重调整的出生后身高对认知功能和教育成就的独立影响。
利用英国1946年出生队列，我们研究了不同年龄段的认知功能与出生体重、儿童期和成年期根据体重调整的身高以及教育成就之间的关联，并控制了性别、父亲的社会阶层、母亲的教育程度、出生顺序和母亲年龄。
出生体重与26岁之前的认知能力呈正相关，也与获得高等教育资格的可能性呈正相关。身高在所有年龄段都与认知能力呈正相关，也与教育成就呈正相关。体重在8岁和15岁时与认知能力无关，但在26岁时与语言能力呈负相关，在43岁时与语言记忆呈负相关，与教育成就也呈负相关。这些影响相互独立，且与家庭背景无关。条件分析表明，身高增长在两个时间段对认知能力有积极影响，一个是在幼儿期，另一个是在青春期后期。此外，15岁以后体重增加与26岁时的认知能力呈负相关。
出生体重和出生后生长与认知能力独立相关。
