Babies of mothers infected with COVID-19 face increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders: JAMA

The key findings of this study were as follows:

1. There were 7772 live births in the cohort, with a mean maternal age of 32.9 years; kids were 9.9% Asian (772), 8.4% Black (656), and 69.0% White (5363); 15.1% (1134) were Hispanic.

2. Preterm birth was more common in exposed mothers: 14.4% (32) versus 8.7% (654).

3. In uncorrected models as well as those adjusted for race, ethnicity, maternal age, insurance status, offspring sex, and preterm status, maternal SARS-CoV-2 positive during pregnancy was linked with a higher prevalence of neurodevelopmental diagnoses.

4. Third-trimester infection was linked with more severe consequences.

In conclusion, the PI said, "These early data imply that kids exposed to SARS-CoV-2 have a higher risk of unfavorable neurodevelopmental outcomes at one year, emphasizing the importance of large, representative cohort studies. More broadly, our research suggests the viability of using EHR data in a retrospective cohort study to discover risk signals before large-scale prospective follow-up studies are available."

Reference:

Edlow, A. G., Castro, V. M., Shook, L. L., Kaimal, A. J., & Perlis, R. H. (2022). Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 1 Year in Infants of Mothers Who Tested Positive for SARS-CoV-2 During Pregnancy. In JAMA Network Open (Vol. 5, Issue 6, p. e2215787). American Medical Association (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.15787