Gestational age at birth is a strong predictor of ill health throughout childhood, a new study finds.
The TIGAR study analysed hospital admission data for more than a million children born in England in 2005-2006. The study, which was published today in the BMJ found that children born early (less than 37 weeks gestation) had more hospital admissions than those born at full term (around 40 weeks) – in general, the more preterm you were, the more hospital admissions you had. Even children born a few weeks early had more hospital admissions than those born at full term.
