It is accepted in scientific circles that babies born at full term are more likely to be in better health, and show better cognitive outcomes in childhood and as they age.

Research has shown that being born premature is linked to a greater risk of developmental difficulties.

But a gap in scientific knowledge has persisted, with regards to those babies born after their due date.

Now, a group of scientists from Northwestern University have shown those babies born late - defined as being 41 weeks - show better measures of school-based cognitive function.

That is compared to their peers who are born at full-term, defined as being 39 or 40 weeks.

However, their findings also reveal while children born late are likely to be more intelligent, they are also at greater risk of physical disability.

Dr David Figlio, who led the study, and his colleagues said: 'These findings suggest there may be a trade off between physical and cognitive outcomes, associated with late-term gestation.

'While late-term gestation was associated with an increase in the rate of abnormal conditions at birth and with worse physical outcomes during childhood, it was also associated with better performance on all three measures of school-based cognitive functioning measures during childhood.'

The researchers analyzed birth certificates in Florida, linked to public school records for more than 1.4 million births between 37 and 41 weeks gestation.

The authors compared late term births - born at 41 weeks - with full-term births - born at 39 or 40 weeks.

To do so they used three school-based cognitive measures, and two physical outcomes - abnormal newborn conditions and physical disabilities noted in the school record.

Those children who were born late outperformed full-term infants in all three cognitive areas, showing higher than average test scores in elementary and middle school, a 2.8 per cent higher probability of being gifted and a 3.1 per cent reduced probability of poor cognitive outcomes, compared to their peers born at full term.

However, late-term infants also had a 2.1 per cent higher rate of physical disabilities at school age and higher rates of abnormal conditions at birth, the researchers discovered. 

The authors wrote: 'While this article does not constitute a course of action for clinicians, our findings provide useful long-term information to complement the extant short-term data for expectant parents and physicians who are considering whether to induce delivery at full-term or wait another week until late term.' 

The findings are published online by JAMA Pediatrics.   

Written By: Lizzie Parry

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