For mothers who experience high levels of stress during pregnancy, prenatal COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of impaired focus and delayed socioemotional and cognitive functioning in their babies, according to a new study published Wednesday.
The research, published in the journal Pediatric Research, involved 167 mothers and their babies. The findings suggest that the combination of maternal psychosocial stress and COVID-19 infection during pregnancy affects infants’ attention span at six months of age.
In mothers who reported positive COVID-19 infection, higher prenatal psychosocial stress was associated with lower infant attention span at six months of age.
Exploratory analysis shows that a baby’s attention span may in turn predict the baby’s socioemotional functioning and neurodevelopmental risk at 12 months, according to research led by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
These findings highlight maternal stress as a modifiable target that could potentially reduce the negative impact of prenatal COVID-19 infection and possible protective benefits for pregnant women who receive COVID-19 vaccination during their pregnancy, the NIH said.
Editor: Bima Agustian
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2023-09-28 08:42:59
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