Male infants born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy were more likely to have neurodevelopmental disorders in the first twelve months after birth, according to a Massachusetts General Hospital study published in the journal JAMA Network Open’.

Previous studies have found associations between other infections during pregnancy and an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children, such as autism spectrum disorder, but it was unclear whether such a link holds true with coronavirus infection.

The scientists reviewed electronic health records for 18,355 births during the Covid-19 pandemic, including 883 to women who tested positive for the coronavirus during pregnancy. Of these children, 3% received a neurodevelopmental diagnosis during the first months of life, while the corresponding percentage of children born to mothers not exposed to the coronavirus was 1.8%. After controlling for race, ethnicity, type of hospital, insurance status, maternal age, and prematurity, maternal coronavirus positivity was associated with nearly twice the odds of a neurodevelopmental diagnosis in boys in the first 12 months of life . No such association of higher risk existed for girls, however.

At 18 months of life, the effects were more modest in boys, with maternal positivity associated with 42% higher odds of a neurodevelopmental diagnosis.

Too few of the mothers had been vaccinated to determine whether vaccination changed the risk.

The study’s co-lead author, Andrea Edlow, associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology and specialist in Fetal Uterine Medicine at the hospital, called the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders “disproportionately high in male infants and consistent with the known increased vulnerability of boys to prenatal adverse events.” reports”.

However, co-lead author Roy Perlis, director of the hospital’s Center for Quantitative Health, notes that larger studies and longer follow-up are needed.