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

Table 5

Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals for selected mental health outcomes among US children aged 2–17 years by perinatal and sociodemographic characteristics: the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health (𝑁 = 84,685).

Sociodemographic characteristics	Emotional/behavioral problem		Serious emotional/behavioral problem		Depression		Anxiety		Oppositional defiant or conduct disorder
	AOR	95% CI	AOR	95% CI	AOR	95% CI	AOR	95% CI	AOR	95% CI
Child born prematurely
Premature	1.47	1.25–1.73	1.61	1.32–1.96	1.33	1.01–1.74	1.58	1.31–1.91	1.50	1.21–1.86
Not premature^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
Child's birthweight
Low birthweight	1.25	1.03–1.52	1.18	0.93–1.49	1.13	0.79–1.62	1.32	1.04–1.68	1.28	1.00–1.63
Very low birthweight	1.31	0.88–1.96	1.47	0.87–2.48	0.98	0.54–1.80	1.49	0.97–2.30	1.26	0.73–2.19
Moderately low birthweight	1.24	0.99–1.54	1.12	0.86–1.44	1.16	0.77–1.74	1.29	0.98–1.70	1.28	0.98–1.67
Normal birthweight^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
Child's age (years)
2–5^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
6–11	3.09	2.41–3.96	3.14	2.31–4.28	5.44	2.95–10.02	4.22	2.99–5.95	2.49	1.85–3.34
12–17	4.23	3.33–5.39	3.95	2.92–5.34	14.44	8.03–25.97	5.68	4.04–7.98	2.28	1.70–3.06
Child's sex
Male	1.50	1.31–1.72	1.68	1.42–1.99	1.12	0.90–1.40	1.20	1.03–1.41	2.33	1.90–2.87
Female^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
Race/ethnicity
Non-Hispanic white^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
Hispanic	0.54	0.42–0.68	0.58	0.42–0.81	0.60	0.40–0.89	0.42	0.32–0.57	0.66	0.48–0.92
Non-Hispanic black	0.50	0.41–0.61	0.49	0.38–0.62	0.48	0.35–0.67	0.33	0.24–0.44	0.74	0.59–0.93
Non-Hispanic mixed race	0.97	0.77–1.22	1.06	0.79–1.41	1.21	0.82–1.79	0.83	0.62–1.10	1.16	0.85–1.57
Other	0.48	0.35–0.66	0.42	0.30–0.60	0.73	0.41–1.28	0.42	0.30–0.59	0.42	0.28–0.64
Household composition
Two-parent biological^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
Two-parent stepfamily	2.16	1.74–2.68	2.27	1.72–3.00	3.44	2.39–4.95	1.70	1.32–2.18	2.80	2.02–3.89
Single mother	2.26	1.91–2.68	2.60	2.09–3.23	3.25	2.42–4.35	2.08	1.69–2.57	2.42	1.92–3.07
Other family type	2.46	1.95–3.08	2.71	2.03–3.60	3.48	2.38–5.09	1.81	1.38–2.36	3.09	2.29–4.18
Place of residence
Metropolitan	1.20	1.04–1.39	1.17	0.97–1.40	1.03	0.81–1.32	1.19	0.99–1.44	1.28	1.06–1.54
Non-metropolitan^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
Highest household/parental education (years)
<12	0.93	0.70–1.25	0.91	0.64–1.31	1.08	0.68–1.71	0.56	0.38–0.81	1.20	0.81–1.78
12	0.99	0.81–1.21	0.99	0.76–1.29	1.11	0.79–1.56	0.66	0.52–0.84	1.38	1.02–1.88
13–15	1.25	1.04–1.50	1.36	1.07–1.72	1.36	0.98–1.89	1.08	0.87–1.35	1.43	1.07–1.90
16+^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00
Household poverty status
Below 100%	2.50	2.00–3.12	2.76	2.05–3.72	2.96	2.10–4.17	1.95	1.49–2.55	3.56	2.51–5.06
100–199%	1.63	1.32–2.01	1.72	1.32–2.26	2.01	1.42–2.84	1.46	1.13–1.88	2.21	1.57–3.09
200–399%	1.21	1.01–1.48	1.38	1.04–1.82	1.64	1.16–2.32	0.99	0.79–1.25	1.66	1.17–2.35
At or above 400%^1	1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00		1.00

The effects of prematurity and birthweight were estimated by separate logistic regression models that controlled for age, sex, race/ethnicity, household composition, place of residence, and household education and income levels. ¹Reference group.