A study from the University of Edinburgh identified a Increase up to 6.6% In problems Child development Early in Scotland during Quarantine and social distancing period to Covid-19 pandemic.
The research, which analyzed nearly 258,000 children, suggests that measures implemented between March 2020 and August 2021 were associated with increased concerns about the development of minors, especially those who had been exposed to restrictions for a longer period.
The analysis was conducted by the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with Public Health Scotlandconstitutes The largest population-based study conducted in the UK or Europe on the impact of lockdown measures on child development.
The researchers evaluated data from routine health checks, covering more than 80% of Scottish children aged between 13 and 30 months, born between January 2019 and August 2023. The aim was to determine the proportion of children in whom health workers identified a developmental concern over time.
Among the key findings, the University of Edinburgh team found that during the 72 weeks that restrictions were in place, the proportion of children with at least one developmental problem increased by up to 6.6 percentage points compared to pre-pandemic levels.
This increase has been observed consistently in Various areas of developmentlike Problem solving, speech and behavior.
The study also reveals that growth problems were not limited to the birth period. After the measures were lifted in August 2021, the percentage of children with developmental problems decreased remained above pre-pandemic levels.
In the 13- to 15-month-old group, concerns continued to increase even after reopening, while in 27- to 30-month-olds, although the increase stabilized, levels remained higher than those recorded before 2020.
The research, developed under the Health Impact of COVID-19 on Child Long-Term Development in Scotland (CHILDS) project, involved Dr. Ian Hardy And the teacher Bonnie O-YoungBoth from the University of Edinburgh.
Hardy stressed the importance of health measures to stop the spread of the virus, but he emphasized that “The results of our study suggest that it also appears to be associated with increased concerns about early childhood development.”.
For his part, O’Young expressed his appreciation for the ability of the Scottish health system to facilitate these types of large-scale studies and welcomed the publication of the results in the journal. Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
The research team cautions that although the study provides evidence of an association between confinement measures and early childhood developmental problems, The influence of other concurrent factors during the same period cannot be excluded. Furthermore, a direct causal relationship was not proven, but rather a correlation based on the data collected.
The CHILDS project, led by the University of Edinburgh, continues previous research such as the COVID-19 in Pregnancy in Scotland (COPS) study, which analyzed the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination on pregnancy and the neonatal period.
In this sense, CHILDS is expanding the focus to include the study of health and developmental outcomes in early childhood, in collaboration with institutions such as Public Health Scotland, the University of Dundee, the University of Sheffield and the Italian Institute of Technology.
Those responsible for the University of Edinburgh study hope that these results will be achieved Help guide the conversation about how to support children who have experienced the pandemic in their early years, as they continue to develop.