Covid-19 pandemic has led to ‘moderate’ delays in developmental milestones for infants and young children

Infants and children up to five years old experienced only “modest” delays in developmental milestones due to the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study led by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, published in the journal “JAMA Pediatrics”.

The researchers assessed potential links between pandemic-related disruptions in daily life and changes in developmental milestone scores.

They obtained data from the online platform Comprehensive Health and Decision Information System, used by more than 5,000 pediatric practices in 48 US states. The data involved more than 50,000 children up to the age of five. The researchers compared children before and during the pandemic, from 2018 to 2022.

Using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3 (ASQ-3), which is routinely collected in the context of pediatric care and concerns child development, the researchers note that the children in the study found a small decrease in communication (3), problem solving ( 2%) and personal-social skills (2%) and no change in fine or gross motor skills.

“This is a really important and reassuring finding,” says Sarah Johnson, one of the study’s lead authors, director of the Rales Center for Integrative Health and Education at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Hopkins.

However, the researchers add that the effects on children’s long-term development remain unclear. “It is important for us to continue to follow children of all ages, developmentally, so that we can understand whether these changes have long-term implications for children or whether new challenges arise as children grow,” says Ms. .Johnson.

The researchers stress that the study’s findings will help plan for future public health crises and underscore the importance of strengthening the clinical infrastructure in US health systems, especially developmentalists.

Finally, they clarify that the study did not account for certain variables that could have changed the findings, such as any prenatal substance abuse and other health conditions. In addition, infants born prematurely were excluded from the study, which may underestimate the developmental effects in this subgroup.