Cognition of infants exposed to Zika virus in pregnancy: a systematic review / Cognição de bebês expostos ao vírus zika na gestação: revisão sistemática

Abstract

This article aimed to systematically review the literature on the cognition of children exposed to Zika virus infection (ZIKV) during pregnancy. After searching the main electronic databases, PubMed, Capes, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane and BVS, the keywords “Zika virus”, “ZIKV infection”, “pregnancy”, “congenital”, “congenital syndrome”, “development”, “Cognition”, “neurodevelopment”, “child”, “infants”, “neuropsychology”, “developmental disorders”, “Bayley”, “Denver” were used for systematic data search. After applying the eligibility criteria for inclusion, 20 articles related to the cognitive assessment of children exposed to intrauterine ZIKV published until 2019 November, were selected. The systematic review identified the following as the main results: delayed cognition, motor skills, language and personal social domain, with worse performance in children with microcephaly or other severe brain injuries. Most normocephalic children exposed to ZIKV showed performance compatible with age. However, a smaller number of normocephalic children had a low score in at least one evaluated cognitive domain, characterizing specific developmental deficits. This review highlights the high risk of intrauterine ZIKV exposure to neurodevelopment and suggests investigating the cognitive development of all children exposed to ZIKV for long-term cognitive profiling, allowing early access to multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs.