Boys' brain development in the womb may be delayed if the mother contracts COVID-19 while pregnant, a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open finds. The research showed that boys born to people who had COVID-19 during pregnancy were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a developmental disorder in their first 18 months of life, NPR reports. Baby girls did not show the same results.
"Male fetuses are known to be more vulnerable to maternal infectious exposures during pregnancy," according to the study's lead author Andrea Edlow. However, there is only a slight increase in risk, and "most children of moms who have COVID during pregnancy won't have neurodevelopmental consequences even if there is some increase in risk," explains study co-author Roy Perlis.
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