Reading competencies in school-age children born preterm: the role of birth weight

Abstract Although prematurity poses a risk to the acquisition of learning skills such as reading proficiency, compared to term children, a robust body of research is still needed to answer the question of whether birth weight (BW) is equally important in relation to reading proficiency and its precursor variables. Therefore, this study was performed with two objectives. First, to assess whether there were differences in reading competencies between school-aged preterm children with extremely low birth weight (ELBW), very low birth weight (VLBW), and low birth weight (LBW). Second, to determine whether birth weight (BW), naming speed, and attentional capacities can be considered as variables with explanatory weight for reading competence (reading and comprehension) in school-aged preterm children (hierarchical linear regression). We evaluated a sample of 112 school-aged premature children from northern Spain, born before the 37th week of gestation, classified into three groups: ELBW (BW < 1000 g), VLBW (BW > 1000 g and < 1500 g), and LBW (BW > 1500 g and < 2500 g). The results did not show statistically significant differences in any of the predictor (naming speed, attention) or reading proficiency variables between the ELBW, VLBW, and LBW groups. As in previous research, naming speed seems to be a predictive factor with an explanatory role in reading but a minor role in reading comprehension, the latter being aided by other cognitive variables such as IQ and, very marginally, by attentional variables. However, more research is required in this regard.