In utero COVID exposure linked to brain changes, developmental delays, anxiety, and depression

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: January 5, 2026
By Mary Van Beusekom

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.

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research

Kids with COVID had a 50% to 60% higher risk of depression, anxiety in 2021, researchers say

Published September 10, 2025

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: September 10, 2025
By Mary Van Beusekom

Relative to uninfected children, COVID-19 patients aged 8 to 17 years were at a 49% higher risk for new-onset depression or anxiety in 2021, rising to 59% in those with severe illness, according to a University of Utah study published this week in PLOS One.

The researchers mined the Utah All Payers Claims Database to explore the link between COVID-19 infection, illness severity, and risk of depression and anxiety among 154,565 school-aged youth who had private insurance or Medicaid coverage. The average participant age was 10.8 years in 2019, when the study period began, and 48% were girls.

Key contributors to mental illness among children include the pandemic’s direct impacts on daily life, such as school closures, isolation from peers, and disrupted family routines, the authors noted.

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research

Ultra-powered MRI scans show damage to brain’s ‘control centre’ is behind long-lasting Covid-19 symptoms

Published October 8, 2024

Published by: University of Cambridge
Published on: October 8, 2024

Damage to the brainstem – the brain’s ‘control centre’ – is behind long-lasting physical and psychiatric effects of severe Covid-19 infection, a study suggests.

Using ultra-high-resolution scanners that can see the living brain in fine detail, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford were able to observe the damaging effects Covid-19 can have on the brain.

The study team scanned the brains of 30 people who had been admitted to hospital with severe Covid-19 early in the pandemic, before vaccines were available. The researchers found that Covid-19 infection damages the region of the brainstem associated with breathlessness, fatigue and anxiety.

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long COVID

Beyond the pandemic: Long COVID emerges as a silent crisis

Published March 15, 2023

Published by: Imprint
Published on: March 15, 2023
By Halona Augustine, Khalid Safdar

[I]t appears that, regardless of gender and other demographic factors, COVID-19 infection at baseline is correlated with increased problems with emotion regulation six months later: depression, anxiety and agitation.

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long COVID

La COVID longue, un mal invisible (mais bien présent)

Published March 13, 2023

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: March 13, 2023
By Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski

The majority of people experience extreme fatigue and many suffer post-stress discomfort, a kind of energy crash. Brain fog, lack of concentration and memory loss are also common symptoms.

Some people develop conditions and syndromes such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), characterized by dizziness and palpitations when a person is in a upright position. Others develop dysautonomia, which causes palpitations, pressure rises or falls, dizziness and gastric problems.

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Tag: anxiety