Babies exposed to Covid in womb at higher risk of breathing and social problems, study finds

Children who are exposed to Covid while in the womb or as newborn babies may face greater difficulties with social skills and have more respiratory symptoms, a study has revealed.

Researchers at the University of Bristol examined whether exposure to the virus during pregnancy impacted the long-term development and breathing of babies and whether they suffered more health problems than children who were not exposed.

For the study, families looked after in 87 hospitals in England and Wales completed surveys on their child’s development and respiratory health up until their second birthday.

Participants included 96 babies who were born to mothers who were exposed to Covid, and 243 babies who were not.

The team found that the group exposed to Covid were at greater risk of slightly delayed social-emotional development.

Children exposed to the virus in the perinatal period also had more problems with breathing and used health care services more by the age of two when compared with the non-exposed cohort.

Previous research has found that infants exposed to Covid infection during pregnancy may have poorer lung growth and delayed early development before 12 months of age, but the long-term outcome of exposure to the virus remained unclear.

Dr Ela Chakkarapani, one of the study's lead authors and Associate Professor of Neonatal Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, said: “Social-emotional delay in infancy poses a risk for difficulties later in childhood, and may impact children's ability to develop positive peer relationships and achieve academic success.

"We can only say that children with perinatal exposure to Covid might develop difficulties with social-emotionaldevelopment. We need larger studies and longer-term follow-up to confirm and understand this risk. If parents are concerned about their child's development after exposure to Covid during pregnancy, then they should see their GP.”

She added: “Children's lung function and health care usage also needs to be monitored longer term to identify whether there is improvement as they grow older. These findings inform the health care policy for monitoring children's health with perinatal Covid infection and safeguarding their health in future pandemics.”