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Conception date affects baby's future academic achievement |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The time of year in which a child is conceived influences future academic achievement according to research by Paul Winchester, M.D., of Indiana University School of Medicine. Test results from over 1.6 million students in Indiana show that children conceived June through August scored less well than other children. Dr. Winchester and colleagues linked the scores of the students in grades 3 through 10 who took the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) examination with the month in which each student had been conceived. The researchers found that ISTEP scores for math and language were distinctly seasonal with the lowest scores received by children who had been conceived in June through August. The pesticides we use to control pests in fields and our homes and the nitrates we use to fertilize crops and even our lawns are at their highest level in the summer," said Dr. Winchester, who also directs Newborn Intensive Care Services at St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis. "Exposure to pesticides and nitrates can alter the hormonal milieu of the pregnant mother and the developing fetal brain," said Dr. Winchester. Nitrates and pesticides are known to cause maternal hypothyroidism and lower maternal thyroid in pregnancy is associated with lower cognitive scores in offspring. Collaborating with Dr. Winchester on this study, which was funded by the Division of Neonatology of the Department of Pediatrics of the IU School of Medicine, were Jun Ying, Ph.D. of the University of Cincinnati, Wesley Bruce, M.S. of the Indiana Department of Education and Janetta Matesan, B.S., of the IU School of Medicine. The May 7 meeting is sponsored by the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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