Assessment of the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on child cognitive development

• Grant number: 22/10629-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: Guilherme Vanoni Polanczyk
• Grantee: Gabriel Vansuita Valente
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/22455-8 - Early childhood interventions and trajectories of cognitive, social and emotional development, AP.TEM

Abstract

Objective: to verify the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on child cognitive development of children born to young women. Method: the offspring of 247 primigravidae aged 14-21 years, residents of São Paulo, who participated in the Primeiras Laços home visiting program (N=80 from the first randomized clinical trial carried out in 2015, and N=167 from the second, newer), was randomized into two groups: (1) exposed to the pandemic; (2) control (not exposed to the pandemic). The dimensions of development measured by the Bayley-III Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III) over the first two years of age will be dependent variables (outcomes), and will be evaluated considering the time of exposure of the newborn to the pandemic. Baseline biological, psychological, psychiatric, and environmental variables related to mother, family, and child will be evaluated as potential moderators of the effect of the pandemic on child development. Beta coefficients will be presented with confidence intervals (CI) of 95%, and marginal means and a significance level of 5% will be adopted for the statistical tests.(AU)