Indigenous children that attend preschool in the Northern Territory fare better later in life but many are held back by high rates of pregnant mothers drinking and smoking, a study has found.
While those rates have fallen overall the rates of pregnant indigenous women smoking in very remote communities in 2013 - as distinct from remote and outer regional areas - was an alarming 50 per cent, the Menzies School of Health Research said.
What holds many children back in life is poor health and environmental factors, with babies being born underweight and often hospitalised.
Up to 70 per cent of expecting Aboriginal mothers either don't access antenatal care at all or do less than the recommended seven visits, the study said.
Perinatal mortality- stillbirths and deaths in the first week of life - fell significantly among Aboriginal babies during the study of children born in the NT from 1994 to 2013 but were still nearly two-and-a-half times the rate of non-Aboriginal births.
The analysis found Aboriginal children who attended any form of preschool went on to attend an average of nearly five per cent or up to 15 more days per school year than those who had not attended preschool.
In very remote communities, Aboriginal students' weekly attendance dropped markedly in the middle school years.
An Aboriginal student with four of 16 identified risk factors (such as overcrowded housing, mobility between schools, English as a second language and living in a very remote community) would likely have attended 61 fewer days per year than other pupils.
The study found the children were not at a disadvantage because they were Aboriginal but due to sociocultural and economic circumstances that affected their health, development and learning.
The "known early determinants" to address were the health of children, getting them to preschool and making sure there were policies to support the transition into formal school learning through to at least year three and in high school.
"This study provides the Northern Territory with quality independent research to inform our work and engage our strategy to ensure every child has the opportunity to engage, grow and achieve" NT Education Department deputy chief executive Marion Guppy said.
The study backed the NT government's recent investment of $35.6 million over four years to improve early childhood services.
The NT Data Linkage study reviewed health, education and other government data of over 60,000 children.
