Deficits seen in having a definite meaningful word, pointing, and waving goodbye<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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MONDAY, Oct. 17, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Babies born into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic may have some potential deficits in early-life social communication, according to a study published online Oct. 11 in Archives of Disease in Childhood<\/em>.<\/p>\n Susan Byrne, M.D., Ph.D., from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, and colleagues compared 10 parentally reported developmental milestones at 12-month assessment in a cohort of 309 babies born at the onset of the pandemic (CORAL cohort) and 1,629 babies from a historical birth cohort (recruited between 2008 and 2011).<\/p>\n The researchers found that babies born into lockdown appeared to have some deficits in social communication compared with the historical cohort. At the 12-month assessment, fewer infants in the pandemic cohort had one definite and meaningful word (76.6 versus 89.3 percent), could point (83.8 versus 92.8 percent), or wave bye-bye (87.7 versus 94.4 percent). These social communication differences were significant in adjusted log-binomial regression analyses: one definite and meaningful word (relative risk, 0.86), pointing (relative risk, 0.91), and waving bye-bye (relative risk, 0.94).<\/p>\n “Babies are resilient and inquisitive by nature, and it is hoped that with societal re-emergence and increase in social circles, their social communication skills will improve,” the authors write.<\/p>\n