Let Us Be Vigilant: COVID-19 Is Poised to Obliterate Gains in Healthy Child Development Globally

Abstract

In this issue of Pediatrics , McCormick et al1 report on a multicountry observational cohort study in which children and parents were assessed multiple times from children’s age 6 months to 6 years, collecting information on measures of socioeconomic status, infection, illness, maternal depression, positive parenting, and the home environment, with the outcome being child development as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at early ages and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence at 60 months. Five trajectories of cognitive development were determined by statistical analysis. Not surprisingly, variables that represented a supportive and nurturing environment, such as emotional-verbal responsiveness of the parents, behaviors and/or environment to support learning, and environmental safety, were most strongly able to differentiate the most and least positive trajectories. Of course, other important variables were adequate nutrition and less respiratory and diarrheal illness. There is a large literature on the relationship of interventions to support and enhance nurturing parenting as well as to improve the learning environment with better early childhood outcomes in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries.2–5 We also know that children living in … Address correspondence to Benard P. Dreyer, MD, FAAP, Department of Pediatrics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, 550 First Ave, New York, NY 10016. E-mail: benard.dreyer{at}nyulangone.org