The pandemic may not have hurt babies' brain development, but it has hurt their communication

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-10-29 02:00

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There is no strong evidence the pandemic has lead to neurodevelopmental impairment in babies born in the past couple of years but there may be higher rates of communication delay, according to an international meta-analysis. Analysing several studies including a total of over 20,000 babies born either pre or post-pandemic, the researchers say there was no significant difference in most measurements of neurodevelopmental impairment, regardless of whether the mother had COVID-19. They did however find a higher risk of communication delay, which the researchers suggest could be related to external factors like parental stress and a lack of social opportunities, rather than problems during pregnancy and birth.