Children Born After Unplanned Pregnancy Lag Behind in Verbal Abilities

Children born after unplanned pregnancy are found to lag behind other children in their verbal, non verbal and spatial abilities, according to a study published in the “British Medical Journal.” However, these differences can be explained on the basis of differences in socio- economic conditions and disappear when this co-founding factor is adjusted.

Around 30 to 40 percent of pregnancies in the United Kingdom that end in child birth are unplanned. The number of children born with the help of assisted reproductive technologies is also on the rise. The children born after a prolonged time to conception or assisted reproduction suffer from various health problems, like preterm birth, low birth weight, and congenital anomalies. Some studies have also reported a low cognitive score in such children. However, until now, no research had been carried out to find the association between pregnancy intention and its effect on the cognitive development of the child.

A recent study carried out in the United Kingdom investigated how pregnancy planning, time to conception, and infertility treatment influence cognitive development at ages 3.and 5. The researchers enrolled 11,790 children from the Millennium Cohort Study between 2000 and 2002. The parents of the children were interviewed when they were nine months old and were followed up at the age of three and five years. Mothers were asked whether the pregnancy was planned, and their feelings when first pregnant; the time to conception in case of planned pregnancy; and details of any assisted reproductive technologies.

The children’s verbal, non-verbal and spatial abilities were tested at age three and five using British Ability Scales (BASII). The researchers found that the scores on all scales in children from unplanned pregnancies were significantly lower than in those from planned pregnancies. However, after adjustment for socio-demographic factors, these differences diminished. The researchers concluded that there is no effect of pregnancy planning, subfertility, or assisted reproduction on children's cognitive development at age 3 or 5.

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