Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 4;7(11):e2443697.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.43697.

Neurodevelopment in the First 2 Years of Life Following Prenatal Exposure to Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Daphne M Vrantsidis  1 , Marcel van de Wouw  1 , Emily R M Hall  1 , Verena Kuret  2   3 , Charlie Rioux  4 , Melanie L Conrad  5   6 , Christine Mesa  7 , Angela Harris  7 , Catherine Lebel  8 , Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen  9 , Gerald F Giesbrecht  1   2   10   11
Affiliations

Neurodevelopment in the First 2 Years of Life Following Prenatal Exposure to Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Daphne M Vrantsidis et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Abstract

Importance: The effects of prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection on child development throughout the first 2 years of life are unknown.

Objective: To evaluate whether prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with child neurodevelopmental outcomes during the first 2 years of life.

Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study used data from the longitudinal, population-based pan-Canadian Pregnancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic cohort, which recruited participants from April 2020 to July 2022. Children were categorized as exposed to prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection if their birthing parent had a positive polymerase chain reaction test performed by a health authority or as a healthy negative comparison if their birthing parent did not have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in their postpartum dried blood spot sample.

Exposure: Prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Main outcomes and measures: The birthing parent reported on their child's temperament at ages 6 and 24 months, developmental milestones at ages 12 and 24 months, and social-emotional milestones at ages 12 and 24 months.

Results: A total of 896 children were included, with 96 children who had been exposed to a prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection (mean [SD] gestational age at birth, 39.20 [1.50] weeks; 45 [47%] male) and 800 were healthy negative comparisons (mean [SD] gestational age at birth, 39.47 [1.54] weeks; 388 [49%] male). In analyses of covariance adjusted for prepregnancy medical conditions and household socioeconomic status, prenatal exposure to SARS CoV-2 infection was associated with slightly higher regulatory control scores, indicating more regulation, at age 6 months (difference in means, 0.19 [95% CI, 0.02-0.36]; P = .03; ηp2 = 0.01). No significant differences were observed for the other neurodevelopmental outcomes. In mixed models adjusted for the same covariates that aimed to examine change in outcomes over time, prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection exposure was not associated with developmental change in any neurodevelopmental outcomes between ages 6 and 24 months.

Conclusions and relevance: In this longitudinal cohort study of multiple aspects of child neurodevelopment between ages 6 and 24 months, negligible associations between prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection and child outcomes were observed. Follow-up research is warranted to determine whether these predominantly null effects persist into later childhood.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Kuret reported receiving lecture honoraria from Milestone Advanced GI Fellowship outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.. Flowchart Outlining Participant Inclusion and Exclusion Groupings
DBS indicates dried blood sample; PCR, polymerase chain reaction.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Parboosing R, Bao Y, Shen L, Schaefer CA, Brown AS. Gestational influenza and bipolar disorder in adult offspring. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(7):677-685. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.896 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lin MJ, Liu EM. Does in utero exposure to Illness matter? the 1918 influenza epidemic in Taiwan as a natural experiment. J Health Econ. 2014;37:152-163. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.05.004 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Eriksen W, Sundet JM, Tambs K. Register data suggest lower intelligence in men born the year after flu pandemic. Ann Neurol. 2009;66(3):284-289. doi:10.1002/ana.21702 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Al-Haddad BJS, Jacobsson B, Chabra S, et al. . Long-term risk of neuropsychiatric disease after exposure to infection in utero. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;76(6):594-602. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0029 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jamieson DJ, Rasmussen SA. An update on COVID-19 and pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2022;226(2):177-186. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2021.08.054 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding