Mild COVID-19 cases during pregnancy do not slow infant brain development: study – CBC
April 11, 2023
According to new research out of Columbia University, babies born to mothers who experienced a mild or asymptomatic case of COVID-19 during pregnancy had normal brain development.
The study, published on Monday in the JAMA Network Open, followed 407 infants aged from 5 to 11 months, across several regions in the U.S. between March 2021 and June 2022.
Among the infants, 258 had no documented prenatal exposure to COVID-19, 112 had confirmed exposure and 37 were exposed before pregnancy or at an indeterminate time. Just over half of the infants were born male and 367 of all infants were born to full term. The average age for the participating mothers was 32.
Researchers gave all the participating families the same children’s toys and food to study the infants remotely and observe over time how their motor skills developed. The cognitive functions and language skills of the infants were also observed.
