Congenital anomalies and deprivation linked to lower educational attainment in Wales

Researchers linked routine health and education records for children born in Wales from 1998 to 2007 and followed them through 2019. The retrospective cohort study examined attainment at ages 11 and 16 in state-funded mainstream schools, adjusting for socioeconomic, demographic and health factors, as well as special educational needs (SEN) provision.

At age 11, 81.9% of children with major congenital anomalies met the reported academic standard, compared with 93.8% of children without anomalies. At age 16, 46.8% versus 56.1% achieved five GCSEs at grades C–A*, including English or Welsh, mathematics and science. After adjustment, the association with anomalies was smaller: the adjusted odds ratio was 0.72 at age 11 and 0.93 at age 16. Deprivation was strongly associated with attainment; among children with anomalies in the most deprived quintile, 29.7% achieved the specified GCSE benchmark, compared with 67.6% in the least deprived quintile.

SEN provision was associated with a narrower gap, but the study does not establish causation. Data were unavailable for 15%–18% of children, mainly those outside mainstream schools, and findings may not generalise beyond Wales. The study was funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme; authors reported no competing interests.