Kim Hyuna, Jang Yong Hun, Lee Joo Young, Lee Gang Yi, Sung Jae Yong, Kim Mi Jung, Lee Bong Gun, Yang Seung, Kim Jinsoo, Yoon Kyung Seu, Ahn Ja-Hye, Lee Hyun Ju
Department of Translational Medicine, Hanyang University Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Pediatr. 2024 Sep 5;12:1368677. doi: 10.3389/fped.2024.1368677. eCollection 2024.
Children who have experienced the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are at an increased risk of adverse neurologic developmental outcomes. Limited data exist on the environmental influences of during the COVID-19 pandemic on preterm infant development. This study aimed to investigate whether COVID-19 exposure affects the neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm children up to 3 years of age.
This prospective cohort study included all very low birth weight (VLBW) infants from the Korean Neonatal Network who had undergone a neurodevelopmental assessment between January 2015, and May 2022. The neurodevelopmental outcomes along with the scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID) and the Korean Developmental Screening Test for Infants and Children of pediatric patients aged 18-24 and 33-39 months who were exposed to COVID-19 were compared with those of VLBW children born and tested before the pandemic.
The cohort included 1,683 VLBW infants. The pandemic group had significantly lower language scores on the BSID-III at ages 18-24 months (= 0.021) and 33-39 months (= 0.023) than the pre-pandemic group after adjusting for gestational age, morbidity, and environmental factors. At 2nd follow-up period, the pandemic group showed significantly lower scores in the cognitive (= 0.026) domains with a mean difference of 7 points and had a significantly higher percentage of ≤-1SD in the gross motor domain (< 0.001) compared with the pre-pandemic group.
Preterm children who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic are at higher risk of abnormal neurodevelopmental outcomes in the first 3 years of life than preterm infants born before the COVID-19 pandemic.
经历过2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的儿童出现不良神经发育结局的风险增加。关于COVID-19大流行期间的环境影响对早产儿发育的数据有限。本研究旨在调查接触COVID-19是否会影响3岁以下早产儿的神经发育结局。
这项前瞻性队列研究纳入了韩国新生儿网络中所有出生体重极低（VLBW）的婴儿，这些婴儿在2015年1月至2022年5月期间接受了神经发育评估。将接触过COVID-19的18 - 24个月和33 - 39个月儿科患者的神经发育结局以及贝利婴幼儿发育量表（BSID）得分和韩国婴幼儿发育筛查测试得分，与大流行之前出生并接受测试的VLBW儿童进行比较。
该队列包括1683名VLBW婴儿。在调整胎龄、发病率和环境因素后，大流行组在18 - 24个月（= 0.021）和33 - 39个月（= 0.023）时的BSID - III语言得分显著低于大流行前组。在第二次随访期间，与大流行前组相比，大流行组在认知领域（= 0.026）得分显著更低，平均差异为7分，并且在大运动领域≤ - 1SD的百分比显著更高（< 0.001）。
与在COVID-19大流行之前出生的早产儿相比，经历过COVID-19大流行的早产儿在生命的前3年出现神经发育异常结局的风险更高。
