Premature Babies may have more Difficulties with Math: Study

A recent study shows that preemies may have more trouble being able to do math than other children.

According to researchers from the University of Warwick, they discovered a link between preterm birth and signs of dyscalculia that significantly increase general cognitive and mathematic problems.

Dyscalculia is known as a learning disorder characterized by frequent problems with everyday arithmetic tasks. According to the findings, this learning disorder is typically diagnosed when children perform worse in mathematics than expected in terms of their general intelligence.

"Mathematic impairment is not the same as dyscalculia. A child with both low IQ and low mathematic abilities can have general mathematic impairment without suffering from dyscalculia," co-author Professor Dieter Wolke from the University of Warwick said, via a press release.

The latest study involved 922 children between the ages of seven and nine, in which researchers found no direct correlation between preterm births and dyscalculia. However they found that being small-for-gestational-age could potentially be a predictor of whether a child is likely to have dyscalculia.

The findings also showed that children born at extreme preterm periods, such as before 32 weeks were 39.4 percent more likely to have math issues compared to 14.9 percent of babies born at full term--39 to 41 weeks.

Certain factors, including the child's socioeconomic background, sex and small-for-gestational-age birth, showed that the odds ratio of dyscalculia in premature babies is 3.22, overall. However, for very preterm babies, the ratio is 1.62.

"What this study has shown is that preterm children are not at an increased risk of having dyscalculia, but their risk may be increased if they were born small for gestational age," Professor Wolke added, via the release. 

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The findings are published in the Journal of Pediatrics.