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Friday, July 22, 2011

This Test Given Moments After Birth May Tell How Well Your Kids Do In School

This Test Given Moments After Birth May Tell How Well Your Kids Do In School
By Robert Johnson

A test given to all newborns moments after they're born may reveal how well they'll do in high school.
According to LiveScience, a new study in the journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology looked at 877,000 Swedish children given the Apgar test used to determine an infants health, and compared those scores with graduation rates.
The lower the scores when they were born, the greater the likelihood the children would have learning difficulties later in life.
"It is not the Apgar score in itself that leads to lower cognitive abilities," said study author Dr. Andrea Stuart, an obstetrician at Central Hospital in Helsingborg, Sweden. "It is the reasons leading to a low Apgar score  [including asphyxiation, preterm delivery, maternal drug use, infections] that might have an impact on future brain function."
The Apgar is given between one and five minutes after birth and evaluate an baby's heart rate, muscle tone, breathing, skin color, and reflex irritability -- each on a two-point scale.
The study found that kids with scores below 7 have twice the odds of attending special schools for the learning impaired.

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