Covid Pregnancies May Have Boosted Autism Risk, Study Shows
Exposure to the virus in utero may have affected children’s development, according to a UCLA study, adding to a list of health problems emerging in the wake of the global pandemic.
A doctor examines a patient before a C-section in an isolation hospital ward for expectant mothers with Covid-19 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in March 2020.
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As Covid swept across California in early 2020, pediatric infectious diseases physician Karin Nielsen grew alarmed by the crisis erupting in maternity wards. Pregnant women were placed on life support, undergoing emergency C-sections as the virus triggered severe complications. Some died.
Nielsen had just finished a research project on how the emerging infectious disease Zika was causing severe birth defects. Concerned the new coronavirus might have a similar impact, she began recruiting expectant mothers who tested positive for a new study.