Impact of asthma on educational attainment in a socioeconomically deprived population: a study linking health, education and social care datasets

BACKGROUND: Asthma has the potential to adversely affect children's school examination performance, and hence longer term life chances. Asthma morbidity is especially high amongst UK ethnic minority children and those experiencing social adversity, populations which also have poor educational outcomes. We tested the hypothesis that asthma adversely affects performance in national school examinations in a large cohort from an area of ethnic diversity and social deprivation. METHODS AND FINDINGS: With a novel method (using patient and address-matching algorithms) we linked administrative and clinical data for 2002-2005 for children in east London aged 5-14 years to contemporaneous education and social care datasets. We modelled children's performance in school examinations in relation to socio-demographic and clinical variables. The dataset captured examination performance for 12,136 children who sat at least one national examination at Key Stages 1-3. For illustration, estimates are presented as percentage changes in Key Stage 2 results. Having asthma was associated with a 1.1% increase in examination scores (95%CI 0.4 to 1.7)%,p = 0.02. Worse scores were associated with Bangladeshi ethnicity -1.3%(-2.5 to -0.1)%,p = 0.03; special educational need -14.6%(-15.7 to -13.5)%,p = 0.02; mental health problems -2.5%(-4.1 to -0.9)%,p = 0.003, and social adversity: living in a smoking household -1.2(-1.7 to -0.6)%,p<0.001; living in social housing -0.8%(-1.3 to -0.2)% p = 0.01, and entitlement to free school meals -0.8%(-1.5 to -0.1)%,p<0.001. CONCLUSIONS: Social adversity and ethnicity, but not asthma, are associated with poorer performance in national school examinations. Policies to improve educational attainment in socially deprived areas should focus on these factors

Introduction

No abstract available

Drawing the threads together

No abstract available

Training Aborigines as teachers: The ASTI project at Mount Lawley College 1976-79

The National Aboriginal Education Committee believes that it is specifically within the education system itself that Aborigines can make an initial contribution, both to their own people and to non-indigenous Australian people, a contribution which, as time goes on, will have an impact of immense importance on the whole of Australian society. This impact will be brought about through a significant, and immediate, increase in entry into teacher training programs for indigenous Australians

Coefficients and 95% confidence intervals for the adjusted effect of asthma severity (BTS step) and other predictor variables on standardised attainment, from two separate multiple regression models (active asthma: 882 children, inactive asthma: 462 children).

<p>Coefficients and 95% confidence intervals for the adjusted effect of asthma severity (BTS step) and other predictor variables on standardised attainment, from two separate multiple regression models (active asthma: 882 children, inactive asthma: 462 children).</p

Urban and Rural Marriage Patterns in Imperial Germany

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66863/2/10.1177_036319907600100201.pd

Characteristics of 12,136 pupils that sat Key Stage tests in 2002 to 2005.

<p>KS 1 sat aged 7, KS 2 sat aged 11, KS 3 sat aged 14.</p><p>SD = standard deviation.</p><p>range = 10th to 90th percentile.</p><p>BTS = British Thoracic Society.</p><p>active asthma = bronchodilator in period 12 months before Key Stage test.</p><p>inactive asthma = no bronchodilator in period 12 months before Key Stage test.</p>†<p> = in period 3 m prior to KS test.</p>‡<p> = in period 12 m prior to KS test.</p>*<p>Council Tax band based on property valuation on 1st April 1991.</p><p>NA = not available.</p