Name: Doctor explains new study on COVID-19 during pregnancy and autism
Uploaded: 2025-11-01T00:30:09.719Z
Duration: 2 min 1 s
Description: A new study finds that children born to mothers infected with COVID-19 during pregnancy have an elevated risk of autism and other developmental disorders.

A new study finds that children born to mothers infected with COVID-19 during pregnancy have an elevated risk of autism and other developmental disorders.

Boston

A recent study involving over 18,000 pregnant women and their children found that babies born to mothers who contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy were slightly more likely to be diagnosed with developmental issues, including autism, by age three. The range of developmental issues observed varied from mild, such as a temporary lisp, to severe forms like autism.

Dr. Celine Gounder explained that while the study does not prove a direct cause and effect, it aligns with previous research showing that inflammation during pregnancy can affect fetal brain development. She also clarified that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is considered safe and is recommended by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to protect both mother and baby.

Doctor explains new study on COVID-19 during pregnancy and autism

Five years after the COVID pandemic, scientists are still learning about the long and short term health consequences of the virus. A new study finds that children born to mothers infected with COVID during pregnancy have an elevated risk of autism and other developmental disorders. Doctor Celine Gounder is here to explain. So Celine, let's take us through this here. What exactly did the study find? So this was a large study looking at 8 over 18,000 pregnant women and their babies who were born during the pandemic. There were vaccines were widely available and researchers found that babies whose mothers had COVID during pregnancy. We're slightly more likely to be diagnosed with develop developmental issues by the age of three. Now it's important to note that those developmental issues range from mild, so say a short term lisp to severe, so perhaps severe autism. This study does not prove cause and effect. Other factors could play a role, but it still fits in with a long line of research showing that symptoms and inflammation during pregnancy can affect how a baby's brain develops. How does that work? How does an infection affect the way babies babies brain develop, right? So when a woman gets an infection like COVID, her immune system ramps up and the inflammatory signals that are part of the immune system can cross the placenta and reach the baby and that can actually change how the brain is developing. So during the process of brain development, you have synapses being made. Also synapses being pruned, kind of like pruning the hedges to form something and the immune system helps to prune those synapses. With vaccination, in contrast, you have a much milder immune response and it's more short term, and so it doesn't seem to interfere with that pruning process. So for someone who's pregnant today, what's the takeaway? Well, look, there's been a lot of confusion and misinformation since 2021 about whether it's safe to get vaccinated for COVID and pregnancy. The message is not only safe, it is recommended by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. To protect mom and baby so important. Got it. Thanks so much silly.

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