Child Health and Young Adult Outcomes

TLDR

Birth weight is strongly linked to future outcomes. The study investigates how postnatal health problems influence outcomes in a cohort of 50,000 Manitoba children born 1979–1987. The authors use public health insurance data and sibling comparisons to assess the impact of early health problems. Early physical health problems predict young adult outcomes mainly through later health, while early mental health problems add predictive power beyond future health and birth health.

Abstract

Research has shown a strong connection between birth weight and future outcomes. We ask how health problems after birth affect outcomes using data from public health insurance records for 50,000 children born between 1979 and 1987 in the Canadian province of Manitoba. We compare children to siblings born an average of three years apart. We find that health problems in early childhood are significant predictors of young adult outcomes. Early physical health problems are linked to outcomes primarily because they predict later health. Early mental health problems have additional predictive power even conditional on future health and health at birth.