Īlthough there are many risk factors, a specific cause is identified for less than half of those with mild disabilities (IQ range 50–69) who make up the majority of cases. The cost of intellectual disability to individuals and society is substantial and people living with these disabilities often face significant stigma while encountering substantial health and social inequalities and early mortality. Intellectual disability is thought to affect over 1% of the population although estimates vary with the demographic and socioeconomic composition of study populations and with definitions and study design. Individuals with intellectual disability have a reduced ability to understand new or complex information and to learn and apply new skills, resulting in a reduced ability to cope independently. Intellectual disability is a group of developmental disorders evident early in childhood and characterized by cognitive and functional impairments as a result of delayed or incomplete development of the mind. The mechanisms underlying these associations need to be elucidated as they are relevant to clinical practice concerning elective delivery around term and mitigation of risk in post-term children. Birth at non-optimal gestational duration may be linked causally with greater risk of intellectual disability. Risk of intellectual disability was greatest among children showing evidence of fetal growth restriction, especially when birth occurred before or after term. Associations persisted in a cohort of matched siblings suggesting they were robust against confounding by shared familial traits.
Risk of intellectual disability was greatest among those born extremely early (adjusted OR 24 weeks = 14.54 ), lessening with advancing gestational age toward term (aOR 32 weeks = 3.59 aOR 37 weeks = 1.50 ) aOR 38 weeks = 1.26 aOR 39 weeks = 1.10 ) and increasing with advancing gestational age post-term (aOR 42 weeks = 1.16 aOR 43 weeks = 1.41 aOR 44 weeks = 1.71 aOR 45 weeks = 2.07 ). We conducted a population-based retrospective study using data from the Stockholm Youth Cohort (n = 499,621) and examined associations in a nested cohort of matched outcome-discordant siblings (n = 8034). We therefore aimed to examine risk of intellectual disability without a common genetic cause across the entire range of gestation, using a matched-sibling design to account for unmeasured confounding by shared familial factors. However, these associations have not yet been investigated in the absence of common genetic causes of intellectual disability, where risk associated with late delivery may be preventable.
Preterm birth is linked to intellectual disability and there is evidence to suggest post-term birth may also incur risk.
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