title: Enduring effects of prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses on children: follow-up of a randomized trial among children at age 12 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the effect of prenatal and infancy home visits by nurses on 12-year-old, firstborn children's use of substances, behavioral adjustment, and academic achievement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  Public system of obstetric and pediatric care in Memphis, Tennessee.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 12-year-old, firstborn children (n = 613) of primarily African American, economically disadvantaged women (743 randomized during pregnancy).
  
  
  METHODS
  Program of prenatal and infancy home visits by nurses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana; internalizing, externalizing, and total behavioral problems; and academic achievement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By the time the firstborn child was 12 years of age, those visited by nurses, compared with those in the control group, reported fewer days of having used cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana during the 30-day period before the 12-year interview (0.03 vs 0.18, P = .02) and were less likely to report having internalizing disorders that met the borderline or clinical threshold (22.1% vs 30.9%, P = .04). Nurse-visited children born to mothers with low psychological resources, compared with their control group counterparts, scored higher on the Peabody Individual Achievement Tests in reading and math (88.78 vs 85.70, P = .009) and, during their first 6 years of education, scored higher on group-administered standardized tests of math and reading achievement (40.52 vs 34.85, P = .02). No statistically significant program effects were found on children's externalizing or total behavioral problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Through age 12, the program reduced children's use of substances and internalizing mental health problems and improved the academic achievement of children born to mothers with low psychological resources.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado-Denver, 13121 E 17th Ave., Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
authors.forename: Harriet J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kitzman
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Olds
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: Carole A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hanks
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Anson
authors.forename: Kimberly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Arcoleo
authors.forename: Dennis W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Luckey
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Knudtson
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Holmberg
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D044383:Black People; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002657:Child Development; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011247:Pregnancy; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D013714:Tennessee / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population; D001741:Black or African American