A neonatal diagnostic code of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is strongly associated with poor and deteriorating school performance, according to Ju Lee Oei, MD, of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and her associates.
In a study of 604,829 children born in 2000-2006 in New South Wales, linkage rates were similar between matched controls (77.6% of 4,330) and other NSW children (77.4% of 598,265; P = .83) but were significantly lower in children with NAS (75.6% of 2,234; P = .03). The controls were matched for gender,gestation, and socioeconomic status.
The children with NAS had significantly lower scores than the controls and other NSW children in every grade and every domain of testing (reading, writing, numeracy, spelling, and grammar/punctuation). By grade 7, 38% of children with NAS did not meet National Minimum Standard (NMS) in one or more domains (versus 18.4% of controls and 14.5% of other NSW children). The mean serial composite scores also were lower in children with NAS from grades 3 to 7, compared with the other two groups; the difference was progressive, the investigators said. And by grade 7, the scores for children with NAS were lower than other children’s scores in grade 5.
It was noted that children with NAS, indigenous status (adjusted odds ratio, 1.7), male gender (aOR, 1.3), and having a primary parent without a grade 9 education (aOR, 1.3) increased the risk of failure to meet NMS. Overall, NAS (aOR, 2.5), indigenous status (aOR, 2.2), male gender (aOR, 1.3), and prematurity (less than 37 weeks’ gestation [aOR, 1.2]) increased the risk of failure to meet NMS.
“To date these are the only data demonstrating long-term school outcomes for children with a history of NAS. Similar data for children born from the current opioid epidemic gripping much of the Northern Hemisphere, assuming linkage is possible, will be available only in 7-10 years,” researchers concluded. “Although this study was conducted in Australia, the high risk of poor academic performance in this vulnerable group of children is applicable to all countries, and strategies to address this risk and prevent poor adult outcomes and intergenerational vulnerability must be urgently addressed.”
Read the full study in Pediatrics (doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-2651).