Reuters = Yonhap News
A study has found that the IQ of ‘corona babies’ born during the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic is lower than that of children born before.
The Guardian reported on the 12th (local time) that the average IQ of infants aged 3 months to 3 years old before the pandemic was around 100 points, but the average IQ of children born during the pandemic was only 78 points. Overall cognitive ability was significantly reduced. This research thesis was published on ‘med-archive (medRxiv)’, a site for pre-publication of medical thesis.
The study was conducted on 672 children born in Rhode Island, the eastern United States. The children consisted of ▶ 308 born before January 2019 ▶ 176 born between January 2019 and March 2020 ▶ 188 born after July 2020, all of whom were born at full term without developmental disabilities. Most of them are white
The research team analyzed that the first few years after the birth of a child are a very important period for cognitive development, but the stimuli received by the children have greatly decreased as nurseries and schools are closed due to COVID-19 and parents work from home. did.
“In an experiment to assess cognitive development, the group of infants born during the pandemic had surprisingly low IQ scores,” said Sean Dunne, a professor of pediatrics at Brown University (chief researcher). It’s limited and cut off from the outside world.”
“The first few years of life are like building a house, the foundation of perception is laid,” he added. However, it is unclear what the long-term effects of low cognitive scores at a young age will be.
In particular, children from socially and economically disadvantaged families showed lower IQ scores. “As this study was conducted in an area where social support and unemployment benefits are relatively generous even in the United States, the situation for children born to disadvantaged groups may be worse,” said Professor Dunney.
Professor Terrence Stevenson of University College London commented, “This study is interesting in that there are many studies on cognitive abilities of school-age children, but few studies on infants.”
He continued, “It was expected that even the children of the vulnerable, who were greatly affected by the financial, employment, and health effects of the pandemic, would be greatly affected. It appears to be,” he added.
Correspondent Ko Seok-hyun ko.sukhyun@joongang.co.kr
