Children may be more likely to be diagnosed with autism and other neurodevelopment disorders if their mother had a Covid-19 infection while pregnant, according to a new study.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital analyzed more than 18,000 births that occurred in the Mass General Brigham health system between March 2020 and May 2021, assessing records for laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 tests among the mothers and for neurodevelopment diagnoses among their children through age 3.

They found that children born to mothers who had Covid-19 during pregnancy were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with a neurodevelopment disorder than those born to mothers who did not have an infection while pregnant: more than 16% versus less than 10%, or a 1.3 times higher risk after adjusting for other risk factors.

  • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism-spectrum-disorder

    Stage 1: General developmental screening during well-child checkups

    Every child should receive well-child checkups with a pediatrician or an early childhood health care provider. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children receive screening for developmental delays at their 9-, 18-, and 24- or 30-month well-child visits, with specific autism screenings at the 18- and 24-month well-child visits. A child may receive additional screenings if they have an increased likelihood of developing ASD or developmental problems.

    • BCsven@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Thanks for the source. This does not seem to be happening everywhere for us here. We have a friend’s (kids) not diagnosed until Kindergarten, and one of their kids definitely is on the spectrum (in my unprofessional opinion) and around 7-8 years old. They eventually took him for specialist testing but they testing said no. (He was biting kids, non verbal, hyper focused interests which later he would only talk about, but the parents kept saying he’s fine, there are no issues) Which is a kid falling through the cracks if you ask me.

      My daughter is a teacher with a Behavioural Intervention specialty. She’s picked out a few kids in her classes that are around 7-9 age they definitely have spectrum issues but parents deny it and say the kid is fine, when spectrum testing should be looked at.

      So that’s why I believe parent advocacy (or non advocacy) plays a big role in getting your child in front of a doctor that agrees with you, or is serious about screening.

          • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            3 days ago

            Oh, sorry. I’m the dumb American who thinks everyone is from the US. I have no idea what the standard is in Canada.

            • BCsven@lemmy.caEnglish
              2·
              3 days ago

              Heh. Looks like we have “screening” at 12 months, but based on physicians interaction during the normal checkups. I’m sure there are cases easily caught, but since it is a spectrum a lot can probably slide past a doc in a 10 minute visit. So hopefully parents are seeking more visits if they notice stuff