New research found that “children born to mothers who had COVID-19 while pregnant face an elevated risk of developmental disorders by the time they turn 3 years old.”
Some of the developmental disorders catalogued by the researchers include “speech delays, autism, motor disorders, and other developmental delays.” The senior author of the study emphasizes that these findings highlight that COVID-19 during pregnancy “may pose risks not only to the mother, but to fetal brain development. … They also support the importance of trying to prevent COVID-19 infection in pregnancy and are particularly relevant when public trust in vaccines…is being eroded.”
Other maternal infections have been linked to neurodevelopmental diseases in childhood, and researchers analyzed data on 18,124 live births within the initial peak COVID window to determine its effects. Among the 861 children in that cohort whose mothers contracted COVID during pregnancy, “140 (16.3%) received a neurodevelopmental diagnosis by 3 years of age, compared with 1,680 (9.7%) of the 17,263 remaining children. … After adjusting for other influencing factors, SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy was associated with 29% higher odds of a neurodevelopmental condition in children.”
The study’s first author added that “parental awareness of the potential for adverse child neurodevelopmental outcomes after COVID-19 in pregnancy is key. By understanding the risks, parents can appropriately advocate for their children to have proper evaluation and support.”
