Economic Outcomes in Young Adulthood for Extremely Low Birth Weight Survivors

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to compare educational attainment and labor market outcomes in young adulthood (21-26 years of age) for a Canadian, population-based cohort of 149 extremely low birth weight (ELBW) (<1000 g) survivors and a normal birth weight (NBW) cohort of 133 young adults from the same geographic area who were matched to the ELBW cohort in childhood. METHODS: We estimated the effects of ELBW status, according to gender, on continuous outcomes through least-squares regression and those on binary outcomes through logistic regression. We controlled for family background and considered neurosensory impairment and IQ as mediating variables. RESULTS: Controlling for family background, ELBW male subjects were less likely to complete high school or to attend a university than were their NBW counterparts, and their educational attainment was reduced by >1 year. Among subjects who were working, weekly earnings were ∼27% lower. ELBW female effects on education were not significant, but ELBW female subjects were less likely than NBW subjects to be employed or in school and they also seemed to …