Mental Health Outcomes in US Children and Adolescents Born Prematurely or with Low Birthweight

Table 7

Sex differentials in adjusted odds of selected mental health outcomes among US children and adolescents according to premature birth and low birthweight status: the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health (𝑁 = 84,685).

Mental health outcome	Adjusted odds for prematurity		Adjusted odds for LBW versus normal birthweight		Adjusted odds for VLBW versus normal birthweight		Adjusted odds for MLBW versus normal birthweight
	AOR^a	95% CI	AOR^a	95% CI	AOR^a	95% CI	AOR^a	95% CI
Males
Behavioral/emotional problem	1.48	1.20–1.82	1.04	0.81–1.33	1.29	0.72–2.31	0.98	0.75–1.29
Serious emotional health problem	1.50	1.18–1.91	0.96	0.71–1.31	1.38	0.63–3.01	0.87	0.65–1.18
Depression	1.35	0.95–1.90	0.92	0.62–1.38	0.95	0.39–2.33	0.92	0.60–1.42
Anxiety	1.59	1.24–2.02	1.02	0.76–1.37	1.06	0.57–1.99	1.02	0.74–1.40
Conduct problem	1.49	1.14–1.95	1.03	0.74–1.43	1.21	0.56–2.62	0.99	0.69–1.41
Autism spectrum disorder	2.18	1.54–3.08	1.49	0.96–2.31	3.41	1.35–8.61	1.09	0.75–1.60
ADD/ADHD	1.51	1.27–1.81	1.21	0.97–1.50	1.48	0.83–2.61	1.15	0.92–1.45
Developmental delay	2.65	2.10–3.33	2.29	1.77–2.95	4.44	2.75–7.17	1.85	1.38–2.46
Learning disability	1.94	1.62–2.33	1.73	1.41–2.14	2.30	1.42–3.73	1.61	1.29–2.03
Intellectual disability	2.58	1.73–3.85	2.10	1.24–3.54	4.77	1.66–13.71	1.53	1.01–2.31
Females
Behavioral/emotional problem	1.47	1.14–1.91	1.53	1.14–2.05	1.36	0.80–2.31	1.56	1.12–2.17
Serious emotional health problem	1.79	1.28–2.49	1.47	1.02–2.10	1.62	0.85–3.09	1.44	0.97–2.15
Depression	1.29	0.83–2.00	1.32	0.77–2.25	1.04	0.46–2.34	1.38	0.76–2.52
Anxiety	1.58	1.18–2.12	1.64	1.14–2.35	1.99	1.10–3.59	1.57	1.04–2.37
Conduct problem	1.51	1.05–2.16	1.78	1.23–2.59	1.39	0.72–2.67	1.87	1.25–2.81
Autism spectrum disorder	2.54	1.54–4.21	2.97	1.73–5.10	2.18	0.99–4.78	3.11	1.73–5.59
ADD/ADHD	1.43	1.11–1.84	1.26	0.97–1.64	2.04	1.27–3.26	1.12	0.82–1.51
Developmental delay	3.50	2.64–4.64	3.25	2.40–4.41	7.41	4.83–11.38	2.51	1.74–3.62
Learning disability	2.45	1.94–3.11	2.25	1.75–2.89	3.56	2.19–5.80	1.98	1.50–2.62
Intellectual disability	3.00	1.87–4.82	3.53	2.17–5.73	3.82	1.88–7.75	3.47	2.00–6.00

aAdjusted by logistic regression for child's age, race/ethnicity, household composition, metro/nonmetro residence, household poverty, and education levels. LBW: low birthweight. VLBW: very low birthweight. MLBW: moderately low birthweight.