Birth-Weight Centile and School Performance at Age 12: Linked Cohort Study

This study aimed to evaluate the associations between birth‐weight centile and intellectual development in term/near‐term infants across the entire spectrum to provide a basis for a better understanding of the long‐term implications of fetal growth restriction and reduced placental function. Birth‐weight centile is associated positively with school performance at 12 years of age across the entire birth‐weight spectrum, well beyond the conventional and arbitrary cut‐offs for suspected fetal growth restriction. This underlines the importance of developing better tools to diagnose fetal growth restriction and reduced placental function and to identify those at risk for associated short‐ and long‐term consequences.