Deprivation hits school results harder than birth defects, Welsh study finds

A Swansea University-led study of children born in Wales between 1998 and 2007 found those with major congenital anomalies were less likely to meet academic standards, but deprivation mattered more. In the poorest fifth, only 29.7% of children with anomalies and 38.4% without achieved five good GCSEs, versus 67.6% and 75% in the least deprived group.