Medical Dialogues
  • Dermatology
Sign in Signup
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
Sign in Signup
  • Medical Jobs
  • Medical Matrimony
  • MD Brand Connect
  • MDTV
Medical Dialogues
  • Medical News
      • Anesthesiology
      • Cardiology and CTVS
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Medicine
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Obstretics-Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics-Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Urology
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Diet
      • Nursing
      • Paramedical
      • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
      • Doctor News
      • Government Policies
      • Hospital & Diagnostics
      • International Health News
      • MCI News
      • Medical Organization News
      • Medico Legal News
      • NBE News
      • NMC News
  • Medical Guidelines
      • Anesthesiology
      • Cardiology and CTVS
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Medicine
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Obstretics-Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics-Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Urology
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Diet
      • Nursing
      • Paramedical
      • Physiotherapy
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Siddha
    • Unani
    • Yoga
  • State News
      • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
      • Andhra Pradesh
      • Arunachal Pradesh
      • Assam
      • Bihar
      • Chandigarh
      • Chattisgarh
      • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
      • Daman and Diu
      • Delhi
      • Goa
      • Gujarat
      • Haryana
      • Himachal Pradesh
      • Jammu & Kashmir
      • Jharkhand
      • Karnataka
      • Kerala
      • Ladakh
      • Lakshadweep
      • Madhya Pradesh
      • Maharashtra
      • Manipur
      • Meghalaya
      • Mizoram
      • Nagaland
      • Odisha
      • Puducherry
      • Punjab
      • Rajasthan
      • Sikkim
      • Tamil Nadu
      • Telangana
      • Tripura
      • Uttar Pradesh
      • Uttrakhand
      • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
      • Ayush Education News
      • Dentistry Education News
      • Medical Admission News
      • Medical Colleges News
      • Medical Courses News
      • Medical Universities News
      • Nursing education News
      • Paramedical Education News
      • Study Aborad
  • Industry
    • Health Investment News
    • Health Startup News
    • Medical Devices News
    • Pharma News
  • MDTV
      • Anesthesia
      • CTVS
      • Cardiology
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • Diet and nutrition
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Health Dialogues
      • Health News today
      • Health Shorts
      • Health Updates
      • Health video of the day
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Latest Videos
      • Latest Webinars
      • MD shorts
      • Medical News Today
      • Medical Updates
      • Medical Video of the day
      • Medicine
      • Medico Legal Update
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology and Neurosurgery
      • Obstetrics and Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics & Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Top Videos
      • Urology
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
Sign InRegister
Medical Dialogues
Sign inRegister
  • Home
  • Medical news
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology and CTVS
    • Critical Care
    • Dentistry
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • ENT
    • Gastroenterology
    • Medicine
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstretics-Gynaecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopaedics
    • Pediatrics-Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonology
    • Radiology
    • Surgery
    • Urology
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • Diet
    • Nursing
    • Paramedical
    • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
    • Doctor News
    • Government Policies
    • Hospital & Diagnostics
    • International Health News
    • MCI News
    • Medical Organization News
    • Medico Legal News
    • NBE News
    • NMC News
  • Medical Guidelines
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology and CTVS
    • Critical Care
    • Dentistry
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • ENT
    • Gastroenterology
    • Medicine
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstretics-Gynaecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopaedics
    • Pediatrics-Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonology
    • Radiology
    • Surgery
    • Urology
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • Diet
    • Nursing
    • Paramedical
    • Physiotherapy
  • Medical Education
    • Ayush Education News
    • Dentistry Education News
    • Medical Admission News
    • Medical Colleges News
    • Medical Courses News
    • Medical Universities News
    • Nursing education News
    • Paramedical Education News
    • Study Aborad
  • Industry
    • Health Investment News
    • Health Startup News
    • Medical Devices News
    • Pharma News
      • CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) News
  • Case of the Day
  • Editorial
  • Home
  • Pediatrics and Neonatology
  • Pediatrics and Neonatology News
  • Babies born during...

Babies born during pandemic's first year score slightly lower on a developmental screening test

Hina ZahidBy Hina ZahidPublished On 2022-02-14T09:00:48+05:30  |  Updated On 2022-02-14T09:01:09+05:30
Babies born during pandemics first year score slightly lower on a developmental screening test

Columbia researchers found that babies born during the pandemic's first year scored lower on a developmental screening test of social and motor skills at 6 months -- regardless of whether their mothers had COVID during pregnancy -- compared to babies born just before the pandemic.The study, which included 255 babies born at a NewYork-Presbyterian's Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and...

Columbia researchers found that babies born during the pandemic's first year scored lower on a developmental screening test of social and motor skills at 6 months -- regardless of whether their mothers had COVID during pregnancy -- compared to babies born just before the pandemic.

The study, which included 255 babies born at a NewYork-Presbyterian's Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and Allen Hospital between March and December 2020, was published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

"Infants born to mothers who have viral infections during pregnancy have a higher risk of neurodevelopmental deficits, so we thought we would find some changes in the neurodevelopment of babies whose mothers had COVID during pregnancy," says Dani Dumitriu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and lead investigator of the study.

"We were surprised to find absolutely no signal suggesting that exposure to COVID while in utero was linked to neurodevelopmental deficits. Rather, being in the womb of a mother experiencing the pandemic was associated with slightly lower scores in areas such as motor and social skills, though not in others, such as communication or problem-solving skills. The results suggest that the huge amount of stress felt by pregnant mothers during these unprecedented times may have played a role."

"These were not large differences, meaning we did not see a higher rate of actual developmental delays in our sample of a few hundred babies, just small shifts in average scores between the groups," Dumitriu says. "But these small shifts warrant careful attention because at the population level, they can have a significant public health impact. We know this from other pandemics and natural disasters."

Developmental trajectory of infants begins early

When the first wave of COVID hit New York City in early 2020, Dumitriu led a group of pediatric researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian in organizing studies investigating the impact of the virus on infants through the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes (COMBO) Initiative.

In one early study, the researchers discovered that mothers do not pass the COVID virus to their fetus. However, it is known that viral illnesses during pregnancy increase the risk of neurodevelopmental delays in children through activation of the mother's immune system, which in turn affects fetal brain development.

"The developmental trajectory of an infant begins before birth," says Dumitriu, who is a pediatrician in the Well Baby Nursery at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. "With potentially millions of infants who may have been exposed to COVID in utero, and even more mothers just living through the stress of the pandemic, there is a critical need to understand the neurodevelopmental effects of the pandemic on future generations."

In the current study, the researchers analyzed responses from a questionnaire that pediatricians give to parents to evaluate aspects of infant development, such as communication and fine and gross motor, problem-solving, and social skills.

Nearly half of the mothers in the study had COVID at some point during their pregnancies, though most of the illnesses were mild or asymptomatic.

No differences were found in scores between infants who were exposed to COVID in utero and those born during the pandemic whose mothers did not contract COVID during pregnancy. However, average scores among infants born during the pandemic -- whether their mothers had COVID during pregnancy or not -- were lower than the gross motor, fine motor, and social skills of 62 pre-pandemic infants born at the same hospitals.

"We want parents to know that the findings in our small study do not necessarily mean that this generation will be impaired later in life," Dumitriu says. "This is still a very early developmental stage with lots of opportunities to intervene and get these babies onto the right developmental trajectory."

Could COVID-related stress affect brain development?

Though the study did not measure maternal stress during pregnancy, Dumitriu says it's possible that the stress caused by the pandemic and experienced by the mothers during pregnancy explains the drop in motor and social skills found in babies born during the pandemic.

Previous studies have shown that maternal stress in the earliest stages of pregnancy has a bigger effect on socioemotional functioning in infants than stress later in pregnancy, and a similar trend was found in the new study: Infants whose mothers were in the first trimester of pregnancy at the height of the pandemic had the lowest neurodevelopment scores.

Other factors, including fewer play dates and altered interactions with stressed caregivers, may help explain why babies born during the pandemic have weaker social and motor skills than babies born before the pandemic.

The researchers will continue to follow these infants in long-term studies.

More information

The study, titled "Association of birth during the COVID-19 pandemic with neurodevelopmental status at 6 months in infants with and without in utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection," published online Jan. 4, 2022, in JAMA Pediatrics.

Other authors are Lauren Shuffrey (Columbia), Morgan Firestein (Columbia), Margaret Kyle (Columbia), Andrea Fields (Columbia), Carmela Alcantara (Columbia), Dima Amso (Columbia), Judy Austin (Columbia), Jennifer Bain (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Jennifer Barbosa (Columbia), Mary Bence (Columbia), Catherine Bianco (Columbia), Cristina Fernandez (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Sylvie Goldman (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman (University of California San Diego), Violet Hott (Columbia), Yunzhe Hu (Columbia), Maha Hussain (Columbia), Pam Factor-Litvak (Columbia), Maristella Lucchini (Columbia), Arthur Mandel (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Rachel Marsh (Columbia), Danielle McBrian (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Mirella Mourad (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Rebecca Muhle (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Kimberly Noble (Columbia), Anna Penn (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Cynthia Rodriguez (Columbia), Ayesha Sania (Columbia), Wendy Silver(Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Kally O'Reilly (Columbia), Melissa Stockwell (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), Nim Tottenham (Columbia), Martha Welch (Columbia), Noelia Zork (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian), William Fifer (Columbia), and Catherine Monk (Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian).

The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01MH126531, K99HD103910, and P2CHD058486), Rita G. Rudel Foundation, and the Society for Research in Child Development.

The authors report no conflicts of interest. Additional disclosures are found in the paper

http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5563

jama pediatrics developmental screening test covid 19 
Source : JAMA Pediatrics
Hina Zahid
Hina Zahid

    Hina Zahid Joined Medical Dialogue in 2017 with a passion to work as a Reporter. She coordinates with various national and international journals and association and covers all the stories related to Medical guidelines, Medical Journals, rare medical surgeries as well as all the updates in the medical field. Email: editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

    Show Full Article
    Next Story
    Similar Posts
    NO DATA FOUND

    Editorial

    Air pollution and allergic rhinitis: Understanding the invisible, yet the inevitable  connection

    Air pollution and allergic rhinitis: Understanding the invisible, yet the inevitable connection

    Treatment challenges in managing Gastroparesis related to PPI Use: Analyzing scope of Probiotics

    Treatment challenges in managing Gastroparesis related to PPI Use: Analyzing scope of Probiotics

    Review: Efficacy of Antiviral Agents Against  Omicron Subvariant BA.2

    Review: Efficacy of Antiviral Agents Against Omicron Subvariant BA.2

    Choice of Antibiotics in Common Infections: Doxycycline or Azithromycin?

    Choice of Antibiotics in Common Infections: Doxycycline or Azithromycin?

    Role of acyclovir in Management of chickenpox: Analyzing the importance of starting early

    Role of acyclovir in Management of chickenpox: Analyzing the importance of starting early

    View All

    Journal Club Today

    Unexpected effects of common painkillers that may be explained by a new study

    Unexpected effects of common painkillers that may be explained by a new study

    View All

    Health News Today

    © 2019 All Rights Reserved.
    Powered By: Hocalwire
    We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by continuing to use our site. To know more, see our Cookie Policy and Cookie Settings.Ok
    X
    X