Children's brain development appears normal for those whose mothers had COVID-19 during pregnancy

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-10-17 02:00

International

Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash

There is no evidence of an increased risk of brain development issues in children whose mothers had a COVID-19 infection during pregnancy, according to international researchers. They say previous research has shown other infections during pregnancy are associated with differences in brain development, so they investigated if this risk is the same for COVID-19 by recruiting 2003 pregnant mothers and screening their children for neurodevelopmental differences at 12, 18 and 24 months after birth. Comparing children born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy with those who didn't, the researchers say there was no clear difference in neurodevelopmental screening scores. In an accompanying editorial, an international researcher says it can be difficult to pick up increases in neurodevelopmental problems if the risk is small, so more research will need to be done on this cohort to confirm these findings over time.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: In this cohort study of pregnant individuals and offspring, exposure to maternal COVID-19 was not associated with abnormal neurodevelopmental screening results through 24 months’ postpartum. Continued study of diverse groups of children is needed because, among other factors, evidence suggests sensitivity of the developing fetal brain to maternal immune activation.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Editorial / Opinion JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of California, USA

Funder: The ASPIRE (Assessing the Safety of Pregnancy in the Coronavirus Pandemic) trial was supported by research grants provided to the University of California, San Francisco (Drs Jaswa, Huddleston, and Cedars) and by the Start Small Foundation, the California Breast Cancer Research Program, the COVID Catalyst Award, AbbVie, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, the University of California, and individual philanthropists. The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology provided nonfinancial support of participant recruitment using marketing endeavors.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.