Autism diagnosis rates higher among children born to mothers who had Covid

(CNN) — Children may be more likely to be diagnosed with autism and other neurodevelopment disorders if their mother had a Covid-19 infection while pregnant, according to a new study .

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital analyzed more than 18,000 births that occurred in the Mass General Brigham health system between March 2020 and May 2021, assessing records for laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 tests among the mothers and for neurodevelopment diagnoses among their children through age 3.

They found that children born to mothers who had Covid-19 during pregnancy were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with a neurodevelopment disorder than those born to mothers who did not have an infection while pregnant: more than 16% versus less than 10%, or a 1.3 times higher risk af