Children born during Covid-19 pandemic have reduced cognitive performance: Study

The study suggests that the children under the age of five, who have been largely spared from the severe health complications associated with Covid-19, have not been immune to the impact of social distancing measures.

Children born during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to those born before, according to a new US study. To study the pandemic’s on early childhood cognitive development, researchers from Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University examined general childhood cognitive scores in 2020 and 2021 against the preceding decade by leveraging a large ongoing longitudinal study of child neurodevelopment.

The study included 672 healthy children between 3 months to 3 years of age from the state of Rhode Island in the United States. (AFP Photo/Representative image)

Since the beginning of the pandemic, countries around the world have imposed several restrictions to contain the virus, including stay-at-home orders that led to the shutting down of businesses, daycares, schools, playgrounds. The parents who could manage to work from home faced challenges in providing full-time attentive childcare.

The study suggests that the children under the age of five, who have been largely spared from the severe health complications associated with Covid-19, have not been immune to the impact of social distancing measures, including stay-at-home orders. The coronavirus-induced guidelines have disrupted their educational opportunities, reduced physical activity levels, and limited interaction with other children.

The study included 672 healthy children between 3 months to 3 years of age from the state of Rhode Island in the United States. The researchers found that even in the absence of direct infection, the environmental changes associated with the pandemic are significantly and negatively affecting infant and child development. The researchers also found that males and children in lower socioeconomic families were most affected.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered the child health landscape, with pregnant mothers and individuals, and children living in a strikingly different economic, psychosocial, and educational environment than what was present just 18 months ago,” the study says.

The study is yet to be peer-reviewed and is currently available on the preprint server.