A new study from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center reports children 5 years old and younger experienced only modest delays in developmental milestones due to the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions and restrictions. The study was the first of its scope in the United States. Researchers say parents and pediatric professionals should be cautiously optimistic about how kids will fare following the pandemic.
However, while the impact was small, the study’s authors point out that even a small increase in the percentage of children who need support could place a burden on an already-strained medical system. A Large-Scale Study of Pandemic Effects The disruptions and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns had well-documented impacts on many people, including families . Previous studies linked the pandemic to lower child health-related quality of life, including another Johns Hopkins study that shows a 77% increase in new pediatric diagnoses of type 2 diabetes during the first two years of the pandemic.
However, the effects of the pandemic on the development of very young American children were unclear because previous studies were done outside the United States or in small samples. Researchers looked at the milestone status of more than 50,000 children aged 0-5 during the pandemic. Data from the Comprehensive Health and Decision Information System (CHADIS), a web-based screening tool, was used to look for links between the pandemic’s disruptions and changes in dev.