The role of health and social factors in education outcome: A record-linked electronic birth cohort analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Health status in childhood is correlated with educational outcomes. Emergency hospital admissions during childhood are common but it is not known how these unplanned breaks from schooling impact on education outcomes. We hypothesised that children who had emergency hospital admissions had an increased risk of lower educational attainment, in addition to the increased risks associated with other health, social and school factors. METHODS: This record-linked electronic birth cohort, included children born in Wales between 1 January 1998 and 31 August 2001. We fitted multilevel logistic regression models grouped by schools, to determine whether emergency hospital inpatient admission before age 7 years was associated with the educational outcome of not attaining the expected level in a teacher-based assessment at age 7 years (KS1). We adjusted for pregnancy, perinatal, socio-economic, neighbourhood, pupil mobility and school-level factors. RESULTS: The cohort comprised 64 934 children. Overall, 4680 (7.2%) did not attain the expected educational level. Emergency admission to hospital was associated with poor educational attainment (OR 1.12 95% Credible Interval (CI) 1.05, 1.20 for all causes during childhood, OR 1.19 95%CI 1.07, 1.32 for injuries and external causes and OR 1.31 95%CI 1.04, 1.22 for admissions during infancy), after adjusting for known determinants of education outcomes such as extreme prematurity, being small for gestational age and socio-economic indicators, such as eligibility for free school meals. CONCLUSION: Emergency inpatient hospital admission during childhood, particularly during infancy or for injuries and external causes was associated with an increased risk of lower education attainment at age 7 years, in addition to the effects of pregnancy factors (gestational age, birthweight) and social deprivation. These findings support the need for injury prevention measures and additional support in school for affected children to help them to achieve their potential.

Developing a community-based stroke prevention intervention course in minority communities: the DC Angels Project.

Despite advances in stroke treatment in the United States, stroke remains the third leading cause of death among Americans and the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. About 780,000 Americans will have a new or recurrent stroke this year. Each year, about 60,000 more women than men have a stroke. African Americans have almost twice the risk of first-ever strokes compared with Whites. Minority populations are less likely to know all stroke symptoms and far less likely to know all heart attack symptoms. There are many benefits of early treatment of stroke, yet most minorities do not get this treatment because they do not recognize the warning signs, risk factors, and prevention of stroke. The objective of this intervention course was to increase the students' knowledge and awareness of stroke, warning signs, risk factors, and prevention. Developing community-based stroke prevention intervention courses in minority communities is a good strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality and help to eliminate health disparities in minority communities.