How does deprivation affect preterm children's development?

What is it about?

We investigated if children who were born preterm AND in socially deprived areas had more risk of having a learning difficulty. Using the data from thousands of preterm children born in Wales and statistical models we were able to define whether these two exposures (prematurity and deprivation) occuring together had effects greater than the sum of their parts.

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Why is it important?

Reassuringly we found that although both being born too early and being born in a socially deprived area make having a learning difficulty more likely the effects together are not greater than the sum of their parts for most learning difficulties. However for dyslexia and autism whether you were born into a deprived area as preterm baby did seem to have a significant effect which could highlight the need for greater focus on these problems.