Relative Age and Psychotropic Drug Use in Preterm and Term-Born Children and Young Adults.

Being relatively young within the school group was associated with increased psychostimulant prescription in the preterm as well as the term population. In contrast to term peers, the relative age effect for psychostimulant prescription seemed to persist to young adulthood for the preterm population. The results suggest that preterm individuals are vulnerable to long-term effects of relative immaturity and that they require careful consideration from both health care professionals and the school system.