A new study has found a concerning link between COVID-19 infection during pregnancy and developmental delays in children. Researchers found that infants born to mothers who contracted the virus showed significantly higher rates of developmental problems compared to a control group.
A doctor examines a patient before a C-section in an isolation hospital ward for expectant mothers with Covid-19 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in March 2020. ( AFP/Getty Images)Nielsen had just finished a research project on how the emerging infectious disease Zika was causing severe birth defects. Concerned the new coronavirus might have a similar impact, she began recruiting expectant mothers who tested positive for a new study.
Soon after the study’s participants began giving birth, Nielsen’s colleagues at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital noticed an unusual number of their newborns requiring intensive care. Nielsen recalls another doctor stopping her to ask, “What’s wrong with the babies in your study?”Sure enough, when researchers analyzed videos of the children lying on their backs in what’s called the General Movement Assessment, 14% of the infants showed signs of developmental problems. The test evaluates early motor functions and is often used to assess the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders including cerebral palsy. Later, during in-clinic assessments, the findings proved equally troubling. At 6-8 months old, 13 of 109 infants born to infected mothers — almost 12% — had failed to reach developmental milestones. In stark contrast, all infants in a control group born before the pandemic showed normal development. As additional participants from LA and Rio were enrolled, more unsettling results emerged. Around 11.6% of toddlers born to mothers with lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy showed cognitive, motor, or language problems indicative of neurodevelopmental delays. By comparison, only two of 128 unexposed controls — 1.6% — showed such issues. When the eldest of the Covid-exposed babies reached 28 months, the study found another concerning pattern: 23 of 211 children — almost 11% — screened positive for autism spectrum disorde
COVID-19 Pregnancy Developmental Delays Neurodevelopmental Disorders Autism Spectrum Disorder
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