Overview
- Researchers reported 29% higher adjusted odds of a neurodevelopmental diagnosis by age 3 after maternal COVID-19, with 16.3% of exposed children diagnosed versus 9.7% of unexposed across 18,124 births from March 2020 to May 2021.
- Autism was diagnosed in about 2.7% of exposed children compared with about 1.1% of unexposed children, with speech and motor delays among the most common conditions.
- Associations were stronger in boys and when maternal infection occurred in the third trimester, a period highlighted as a critical window for fetal brain development.
- Roughly 93% of mothers in the cohort were unvaccinated because the study window preceded widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, so the analysis cannot determine how vaccination might modify risk.
- Authors and outside experts emphasized the observational design and noted that individual risk remains low, urging prevention of infection in pregnancy, ongoing monitoring of exposed children, and adherence to medical group guidance supporting vaccination.