Interpret pandemic effect with caution
“Research studies, as well as our own daily experiences, have made it abundantly clear that stress is on the rise as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said editorial author Dr. Monk, who commented on the second study in an interview. “This is an important public health question: Early identification of pandemic effects on child development can help garner the necessary resources to intervene early, dramatically increasing the likelihood of improving that child’s developmental trajectory,” she said.
“The pandemic is an unprecedented experience that has widespread impact on people’s lives, how could it not also alter gestational biology and the developing brain? That being said, we need to be cautious in that we do not yet know the functional implications of these brain changes for longer-term development,” Dr. Monk said. “Also, we do not know what aspects of women’s pandemic-affected lives had an influence on fetal brain development. The authors found higher stress in pandemic versus nonpandemic women, but not evidence that distress was the mediating variable relating pregnancy during the pandemic to altered brain development,” she explained.
The take-home message for clinicians is to “provide your patients with realistic avenues for neurodevelopmental assessments of their children if they, or you, have concerns,” Dr. Monk said. “However, do not prejudge ‘pandemic babies,’ as not all children will be affected by these potential pandemic effects,” she emphasized. “It is possible to misjudge normal variation in children’s development and unnecessarily raise parents’ anxiety levels. Importantly, this period of brain plasticity means any needed intervention likely can have a big, ameliorating impact,” she added.
“We need follow-up studies looking at pandemic effects on prenatal and postnatal development and what factors protect the fetus and birthing person from the negative influences,” she said.
The JAMA study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation. The study in Communications Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, and the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation. None of the researchers in either study disclosed conflicts of interest. Dr. Monk disclosed grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Bezos Family Foundation, and the Robin Hood Foundation outside the submitted work.