In utero SARS-CoV-2 exposure may predispose children to altered brain volumes, impaired cognition, and internalizing emotional problems such as anxiety and depression, researchers from Children’s National Hospital and George Washington University write in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

The team enrolled 39 mother-baby pairs in Washington, DC, who had been exposed to COVID-19 during pregnancy from 2020 to 2022 and compared them with 103 normative pairs from before the pandemic (2016 to 2019). None of the infected women had been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.

When infants were 2 weeks old, they underwent quantitative 3D volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Two years later, they were assessed with the Third Edition of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III) and the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA). Mothers were also evaluated with the Perceived Stress Scale to account for psychological distress that may have exacerbated the effects of SARS-CoV-2 exposure on the fetus.