Intelligence depends on foetal growth: Study

The study was carried out by the international team of experts. The team was led by Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

The study researchers maintain that children who get good physical conditions in the womb, grow well with have higher numeracy and literacy skills in early years of their schooling.

In the study the researchers discovered an association between sound growth of foetus in mother's womb and good numeracy and literacy skills in early primary school.

Researchers said they found that healthy growth in mother’s womb played a significant role in enabling the children to overcome the achievement gap that results from socioeconomic deficient conditions.

Institute Director Fiona Stanley, co-author professor said, "This is the first time that we've been able to match birth and educational information and identify some of the broad factors that are linked to educational success.”

"Good foetal growth appears to give children from disadvantaged areas a comparatively better start,” she added.

For the study, the de-identified linking of midwife records and standardized testing (WALNA) results of approximately 55,000 children, were analyzed by the study researchers.

The data became accessible due to a significant alliance between the Institute and the WA Departments of Education and Training and Health.

The research was funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant.

The study appeared in the international Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and American Journal of Epidemiology.

Implications of the study
We usually blame school and the teachers for poor performance of children but instead of this, we should better demand for “quality and availability of healthcare, childcare and local government services in that area,” Stanley said.

The need of the hour is an effective combination of health and educational policy/services.

“This is an example of the need for joined up thinking; that the pathways into improved education include maternal and child health,” Stanley alleged.

Furthermore, she suggested that the best thing government could do is that it should improvise the health-care services for pregnant women, predominantly in disadvantaged areas, so as to get good educational outcomes in future.

“We know that drugs like alcohol and tobacco restrict a baby's growth in the womb so we really need to be supporting mothers and giving them the information they need to have healthier pregnancies,” she held.

In addition, she mentioned that there was no need for those mothers to worry who had had complicated pregnancies as on an individual level, active parenting played a great role in directing a child’s educational attainment and wellbeing.