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A new study suggests that babies born to moms who were stressed during the 2009 Covid-19 pandemic may have smaller brains.
Reporting in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers at the Center for Prenatal, Neonatal & Maternal Health Research at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, say the left amygdala, a part of the brain linked to emotions, was significantly smaller in babies born to moms who reported stress during the pandemic.
The right hippocampus, which governs spatial, visual, and verbal memories, and the white matter were also reduced in children born to moms who reported stress.
"Looking ahead, we want to use this informationand studies with similar findingsto empower pregnant mothers to request support to mitigate their stress, especially in the event of another global health crisis," says neonatologist Nickie Andescavage, who led the study.
The researchers compared the brains of 103 babies born between 2014 and 2019 to 59 born between 2020 and 2022.
The mothers were evaluated for stress and anxiety using the Spielberger State-Train Anxiety Inventory and other evidence-based scoring measures.
In pre-pandemic babies, 21% reported elevated symptoms of anxiety; in the pandemic cohort, that number jumped to nearly 62%.
"Given the global impact of the pandemic and universal reports
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